Coffee and Queens
by WitheredWings
Summary: Coffee shop AU, Olicity. In which Felicity has a part time job as a waitress at a coffee shop next to her work at the IT department of Walkers Inc, and a pretty stranger walks into her life and refuses to get out of it.
1. Chapter 1

**A/N:** AND we're off for a new one. Wrote this story while on vacation and kind of thought I'd post it. Will have regular updates every week or so =) People who have read _The Occupational Hazard_ might recognize some nicknames and extra characters ( I will update soon).

**Oh Right, and we are almost completely disregarding Felicity's utter hatred for bringing people coffee and are just assuming she would if she really **_**really**_** needed the money at first. And would then stay on if she liked the rest of the staff.**

_Disclaimer: I dont own Arrow nor any characters in it._

* * *

Chapter One

x

* * *

In one of the back streets of the Starling City town centre, a small coffee shop called _Beans Consolidated _ was enjoying its regular flow of Friday afternoon customers. The quaint shop was located on the ground floor of a red-brick three-story house with warm, mahogany brown doors and window sills. Stacks of books were presented in the window displays, with cups and saucers with either cake or sandwiches on top of them. Behind that, there were large tables surrounded by comfortable chairs and oversized chairs with small tables for customers who preferred being on their own.

Inside, all walls were covered by bookcases and there were tables scattered around the way to the counter. On the left side of the shop, however, there was an opening between two bookcases. The sounds of tinkering china and muted laughter, however, betrayed the many customers that were hidden behind them in the alcoves of the bookcase maze that followed. Upon taking a closer look, one would see that most customers were actually situated in that maze, taking random books from the shelves and reading them. The tables in the main part of the store were not at all empty either, though, since the shop had many regulars and most of them preferred to sit in the area around the counter, where they could talk to the staff. Many of them were drinking hot drinks with a book in their lap as they enjoyed their free time.

Groups were also welcomed in the shop, though, whether to work, read or just to chat. But to be honest, Felicity always made sure they were hidden away behind at least a few bookcases so they wouldn't disturb any other guests. She had been working in the shop for a few years now and knew like no other how irritating it was to be constantly disturbed while reading. So she made sure nobody would be disturbed by any unruly customers.

It was as simple as that.

At present, she was guiding the six newest additions to their collection of clients to table twelve, where the History section would hopefully keep them occupied enough not to disturb the others too much. She saw old Ms. Rochev's irritated glance at the group as she led them past her and gave the frail woman an apologetic smile.

When the group was seated, she took their orders and waved the paper at the counter as she emerged from the bookcase maze and neared the bar.

"Time to get to work, Digg!"

A large, coloured man turned around and took the paper from her. He continued whipping up some cream and gave her a look. She mostly ignored him as she fixed her apron.

"I'll have you know I've been working my ass off all day," he answered as he read it. Afterwards, he slid a tray across the counter with a mug topped with whipped cream and fresh cherries . "Now go bring this to that twelve year old."

He leaned to the side and looked past Felicity, winking at the brown-haired girl behind her. A second later, Felicity could hear Thea blowing him a kiss back.

"If you think texting Lyla is work, you've been doing a different job than I have," Felicity said, looking down at a paper as she pointed her pen at him.

Diggle groaned, throwing his head back.

"That was only once! Am I going to hear about this forever?"

Without answering, Felicity picked up the tray and looked to her left, where she saw Mr. Knyazev nodding approvingly. The regular always knew what was happening in the shop, from staff to customers. Smirking, Felicity sashayed past him and gave him a high five before she walked over to Thea's table. Behind them, Diggle groaned again.

"I should get a different job," Diggle sighed.

When Felicity arrived at Thea's table, the off-duty waitress was back to reading her magazine again and Felicity subtly put down the tray on top of the magazine. Thea blinked at the tray. After a second, though, she grabbed the mug happily, warming her hands with a sigh. She smiled up at Felicity, thankful.

"There you go," habit ordered Felicity to say. "Need anything else?"

Thea stared at the left side of the shop with a frustrated frown.

"Only for you to get rid of old Rochev over there," she said in an undertone, still staring.

Felicity was not phased at her dark tone. It was common knowledge Thea hated old Ms. Rochev. She would always say hi to her politely but she would mutter about death and destruction afterwards. The young Queen prodigy never really explained why, though, but Diggle said it was something to do with family drama. Personally, Felicity suspected Ms. Rochev had told Thea off for spilling a drink or something like that and had managed to attract the wrath of Thea Queen with that. But then again, nobody liked the family ever since they had mercilessly taken over all lawyer companies in town, so who was to say what really was the cause.

Thea huffed in irritation when the old woman waved and Felicity smiled at the woman, waving back.

"When did it become socially acceptable to order someone's death at a coffee shop," Felicity wondered aloud. Then, she looked back at Thea. "Sure gives a whole new meaning to coffee being bad for your health. Anyway, no can do. Anything else?"

Thea shook her head.

"Unless you deal in instant boyfriends, I'm all done."

Felicity smiled at the brunette's fast reply. She glanced at the bar. Diggle was still busy making the order for table twelve and nobody seemed to want a refill. So she figured she could risk it. She pulled up a chair and sat down next to Thea.

She leaned in and answered Thea quietly.

"I thought you liked the new guy? Diggle said he was model-material… Should I get you two scheduled in on the same days this week, on accident?"

Thea grinned and sipped her coffee. She played with her sugar cube with her other hand distractedly.

"He's- he's difficult," she explained.

Felicity leaned back.

"Oh," she said, not really taking her serious. Thea always said guys were difficult and then proceeded to date them anyway. She leaned back in. "Should I still schedule you in together though?"

Thea put down her mug and stared ahead in thought.

"Could you?"

Felicity nodded. Thea grinned in reply.

"I'll make sure to let my hand slip," Felicity said with a wink.

She was about to add to that when Diggle called her over. Shrugging at Thea because she knew how it was, Felicity stood and got back to work. By the time she had served the group of six, Thea had left the shop and every table appeared to be satisfied. The remaining customers knew that they could raise their hand or come to the counter and so she re-joined Digg behind the bar. He was cleaning and doing the dishes.

When she got there, she was grateful for the small break, but she soon spotted Mr. Knyazev with his hand up to get a new espresso to replace the old one. Shaking her head, she brought it to him, telling him off for drinking so much coffee even though she worked in the shop. It couldn't be good for an old man to drink that much coffee. After that, she joined Diggle again. He bumped against her amicably as she grabbed a tea towel and a plate to dry. He didn't say anything, though, so Felicity broke the silence.

"So what's up, brother from another mother?"

Diggle rolled his eyes and shook his head at the nickname.

"Nothing much, sister from another mister."

Felicity laughed at the inventive nickname and took the plate he was holding out for her. She remembered Thea when she looked around the shop and decided to get to the gossip.

"Hey, when does the new guy start his weekday shifts," Felicity asked.

"Tomorrow."

Felicity hm'ed and took a new plate from Diggle.

"Thea said he was difficult," she said, observing the customers in the shop. Diggle groaned, which made Felicity chuckle.

"Give it a month," he said. "She'll have him at her beck and call."

Felicity shook her head at the plate in front of her, pursing her lips in thought.

"He seems like a guy that can handle her. I say give it two weeks and they'll be dating," she answered.

Diggle moved his head thoughtfully from left to right, then shook his head.

"Nah, they won't. Let's make it a bet," he said. He grinned evilly when another thought hit him. "Loser has to drink a Vanilla Sky coffee."

Felicity groaned and put down her plate.

"Why did I ever tell you guys about that," she lamented.

Diggle shrugged.

"Oversharing is what you do," he pointed out. Felicity shrugged in acceptance. "But I don't like it either so it's a good one," he added.

The blonde pulled up her nose in disgust at the thought of the Vanilla Sky special. She remembered the first time she had tried the mix of vanilla and coffee that Moira had decided should be on the menu. The only reason she had not spat it on the ground that night was Moira's presence. But that night she had made sure to drink a glass of red wine to get rid of the taste.

"Seriously, whoever decided vanilla and coffee were a good combination should be punished," she said. Diggle chuckled in reply. After cleaning the last few plates, Felicity moved to clear the stack away and went back to the previous subject. "Anyway, it's on."

Diggle grinned and held out his hand. Felicity shook it with a smile.

Afterwards, they worked on moving back the clean dishes to their respective places and Felicity moved most of their food to the right side of the display so she could clean the other side. After a few minutes of silence, she walked through the schedule for the coming days with Diggle.

"Okay, so let's get this straight. That's you, Thea and … Roy," she asked, doubt evident in her tone. She hadn't met him and didn't remember names very well. Diggle nodded. "Roy- on Tuesday. I'll be here tomorrow and Sunday… Think you and Thea will manage Monday on your own?"

Diggle nodded, the corners of his mouth threatening to turn up.

"With you out of the way everything's bound to end up rainbows and sunshine," he teased. She mock-laughed with him, annoyed. "Nah, we'll be fine. Thea has worked here since she was fourteen, let's be honest. It's only the last few years that she's actually gotten paid."

Felicity agreed.

"And you'll manage with both on Tuesday," she asked. Diggle nodded. "Even though that Oliver guy is meant to come by for a first visit?"

Diggle shrugged.

"He must know Roy is new so he'll cut us some slack if anything goes wrong. Plus, Roy's from the Glades. He's happy enough to have a decent job at all so by the time Oliver comes by, he'll have it down pat."

Felicity once again agreed. Actually, she had heard about Roy's living conditions earlier from Thea and had been surprised Moira had hired him. It must have been a really good interview because Moira usually preferred to hire people from other areas. Felicity hadn't even met him and he had already impressed her, she realized.

But the fact that Roy didn't _want_ to make mistakes, however, didn't mean he wouldn't. Just like the fact that Oliver cutting them some slack on the day itself, did not mean he would not mention what had happened, later. No, she was not naïve enough to think that. She'd had plenty experience with people being different from what they seemed to be at first. The fact that Moira trusted her son not to change the shop too much, didn't mean she did. Or that Felicity trusted him at all, for that matter.

* * *

Around three, Diggle had joined in the back to help with the administration so Moira could get to baking. Meanwhile, the store was experiencing a lull between customers and so Felicity grabbed her tablet and read on in _Brave New World_, her latest addition to her dystopian collection. It had been recommended to her by Sin, a girl who often visited the shop. Sin never got coffee and kind of used the shop as a second home, but she had been accepted because she was a good friend of their ex-colleague Sarah. By the time Sarah stopped working, Sin had already become a fixture at the shop so nobody minded her being there. Either way, since Sin recommended it to her, she had started on it.

Not that Felicity had a lot of time for reading, normally. In the time between her part-time job at Walker's Incorporated IT-department and this waiting job at Beans Consolidated she was usually reading meeting notes. But on the job, she often read on her tablet. Mostly dystopian but also some really early science fiction books.

And now that there hadn't been a new customer in fifteen minutes and everybody else seemed content, she could finally get round to reading a bit more. Felicity happily lost herself in the book within seconds.

Ten minutes into Huxley's beautifully crafted world, though, Diggle drummed his fingers on the counter on her right like he always did.

"Shut up, Digg. I'll help Anatoli in a minute. He better wait until I finish the page," she said, irritated.

She swore Anatoli Knyazev was addicted to coffee. No, she was sure. He came to the shop every day for hours and every half hour he would raise his hand to get a new espresso while he worked on "super important documents" for his company. That, and he asked for her number every day without fail. Really, he was a sweet man. But not when she felt like reading.

Diggle coughed.

She rolled her eyes without looking up from the tablet.

"I'm sure he is happy to hear that, but I'd like a coffee too," a deep voice replied.

Her head shot up and she looked like a deer caught in headlights when she saw the man across from her. It took a moment for her to realize that no, this was definitely not Diggle. This man had short, blonde hair, a scruffy stubble and eyes a hue of blue she hadn't seen before. And he was smirking at her, to boot.

She realized she had been gaping and closed her mouth with a snap.

"Um- Sorry. I don't… I thought you were Diggle," she said, pointing at the man. She took a pause to breathe. "Right. What can I do you for?"

The man's smirk got wider and she felt a lovely sensation spread through her body. Then she realized what she'd said.

"I mean- give me a second," she said. He tilted his head to the side as she took another deep breath, counted to ten and calmed herself. Then, she smiled. "Right. What would you like to drink, sir?"

He smiled genuinely, this time, and it made her stomach churn.

"Do you always talk this much," he asked, his deep amused voice making her bite her lip on the inside.

"No. Today is a good day" she answered, sarcasm coming to her easily. The man's smile grew wider. "Anyway, what can I get you?"

He looked behind her for a long moment. Then he seemed to have decided.

"A black coffee, please."

She nodded and scribbled it down on a pad with the pen she had stuck behind her ear, earlier. _Black coffee. A masculine choice. Okay. _

"Anything else?"

He looked at the display and pointed at the muffins.

"A cheese muffin, please."

_Or maybe not so masculine._

"To go, I take it," she asked, staring at the man.

God, he was pretty. He was wearing a green shirt that fit his broad shoulders perfectly and his deep voice did things to her she didn't think a mere voice could do.

"No," he answered. "I'm sitting down, but you seemed pre-occupied so I came to ask you instead. I'm sitting down at table three."

She peered at the table in the distance and saw a long black coat hanging over a chair. She smiled apologetically and nodded.

"Sorry, I was reading. By all means, sit down and I'll get you your coffee and muffin as soon as I can."

He nodded, shot her another glance and then turned and walked away. He sat down at his table and paid her no more attention. Cursing herself, Felicity turned around and readied his order as fast as she could. On her way to him, she passed mister Knyazev, whose hand was indeed up in the air again.

"I'll come by in a second," she told him in passing. The man waved his hand in acceptance.

When she got to the stranger's table, she slid the tray on it effortlessly and pointed at his purchases.

"One Cheddar cheese muffin and a black coffee. Sorry for the wait."

He turned his head and still seemed in thought when he glanced at her. When their eyes met, though, he came out of his trance and smiled politely.

"Thank you," he said in acknowledgement. "Are you new here?"

Felicity couldn't help but feel a bit affronted. She was practically managing the staff by now, after all.

"Only the last four years," she answered with a clipped voice and an annoyed smile.

That made him chuckle.

From where she was standing, Felicity could see Anatoli Knyazev waving and she gave him a stern look before turning back to the matter at hand. Knyazev dropped his hand abruptly in the background.

The man in front of her shook his head, still smiling.

"I didn't mean it like that. I haven't been here in a long time but I never saw _you_ when I was a regular."

That sparked her interest. She moved her weight from one leg to the other and looked him up and down.

"You were a regular? I mean, no offense but you don't look like the type that reads."

When she realized that might have been a bit offensive, it was too late. Also, she became occupied by the realisation that if he was a regular , she might be able to find his name in the system.

"Maybe," he said. "But I do. And I like coffee. This was my second home for a while."

He looked straight at her when he said that. She had to look away, wondering if he knew how well she knew second homes and everything that came with them. His smile caught her eye, though, and when she realized he was smiling at her she felt her skin tingle. Suddenly a bit nervous, she wanted to end this before she embarrassed herself. She smiled back in a polite manner and nodded in understanding.

"Well, it makes sense. We've always got a place for beauti- bibliophilic, men. Bibliophilic. Yes... I'll leave you to it, then," she said.

The blonde turned around abruptly and all but ran towards mister Knyazev. When she got there, she caught her breath before talking. The old man watched her with an amused smile on his face.

"Yes," she asked. "An espresso for you?"

The man shook his head, eyes twinkling.

"No, I just wanted to ask for your telephone number," the old man said.

Felicity looked at the ceiling in exasperation and back at the man again. Next to his table, Miss Rochev was wheezing. The blonde glared at the old woman first, then smiled at Anatoli. She had to give it to him, at least he tried.

"Maybe another day," she answered. "An espresso for now?"

The old man pushed his mug towards her, nodding sadly.

"Don't worry," he seemed to be saying more to himself than to her, "I'll get you sometime."

Felicity smiled and picked up his mug.

"I don't doubt you for a second," she told him.

She got round to making him an espresso pronto, hoping to catch another glimpse of the stranger when she was done, but the ringing doorbell caught her off guard and when she turned, the man had left. His money was on the table.

And though Anatoli and Miss Rochev tried to cheer her up afterwards, she still felt a bit lost after the encounter.

* * *

**A/N: AND, what do you think?**

**Review please!**


	2. Chapter 2

**A/N:** THANKS so much for reviewing people! I love to hear what you're thinking, especially since its such a difficult world to make into a coffeeshop AU!

Anyway, this chapter was difficult to edit since it wouldn't work with me, though it did when I wrote it during my holiday but then again, I wrote it for fun then and didn't pay attention to logic and all that, soooo... anyway, have fun reading!

**Disclaimer:** Do. Not. Own. Arrow.

* * *

Chapter Two

x

* * *

The following week went relatively fast. At Walkers Incorporated, Felicity had to create a new program to let the employees look through the newest additions to their available-houses-section faster and at Beans Consolidated she had to pay attention to Roy. Luckily, the program was finished in time and Roy picked it up fast, even when Moira caused mayhem. And so she did, since all bad things came in threes. Not that it was a surprise that Moira caused problems. No, Satan herself had a knack for making the tastiest cakes, pies and other baked goods but also one to let at least one of them burn to ashes every week.

Not that Felicity minded. She liked to see Moira's human side, next to her downright satanic tendencies as shop owner. Something to do with karma, Felicity always thought. But that didn't mean Moira was always the only one that suffered from it.

Said karma-side of life came back to bite Felicity as well as Moira in the ass right around rush hour on Thursday. And so she had to leave Roy on his own to help. But she had worried about Roy for nothing as she fought to keep the bakery intact. For, while she had opened the back door and waved tea towels around in a desperate attempt to get rid of the smoke, Roy had managed to seat three parties of four, one of six, give them the right orders and sell three coffees to go. So, she figured, there was no reason to worry about Roy anymore.

When Diggle came in around two to take Roy's place, she told him as much. Diggle smiled proudly and shook Roy's hand, who seemed happy with his new title of equal. Diggle shared a look with Felicity.

"See. I told you he'd be a fast learner," he said.

Roy's head snapped around to face Felicity.

"You doubted me?"

Felicity tapped her chin in thought.

"Healthy apprehension is a word combination that comes to mind," she offered. "But I guess that doesn't help my case."

The young man jutted out his bottom lip as he looked at her.

"But on the bright side, you proved me wrong," she said enthusiastically. Diggle snorted, which made her stop smiling and become serious again. "I guess Thea's bossing around helped you after all."

Roy raised an eyebrow at her antics but otherwise said nothing.

"Nah, if it's about bossing around," Diggle answered, "it's Moira you have to look out for."

Felicity agreed loudly while she used her hands to give herself horns and hissed, much to the amusement of the other two.

"Thank God her occasional baking mishaps keep her grounded most of the time," she shared. Then she whispered. "She scares me."

Roy shook his head with a smile, removed his apron and balled it up, stuffing it in the box beneath the counter with the others.

"Same," he said. "But that Oliver guy seemed much more relaxed. Working with him is bound to be much easier."

Distracted, because she was glancing around the shop to check for any raised hands, Felicity answered him slowly.

"Oh, yes … how was he?"

Roy shrugged and held up a hand to stop her from asking more. He pointed at and then walked to Mr. Knyazev, who had just raised his hand, to help him before he was off the clock. Diggle put on the espresso machine. When Felicity turned to him, he shrugged, too.

Felicity gave him a pointed look as she leaned on the counter and stared at him from the side.

"Oh, come on, Digg. You're a good judge of character. Tell me!"

Roy came back and leaned on the counter across from her. He put a used cup in the sink.

"An espresso, please," he told Diggle.

Diggle rolled his eyes at Roy, since Anatoli never ordered anything else and they all knew it. On the other side of the counter, Roy turned his head to look at Felicity.

"The guy was nice. Seemed to have known the shop forever. He had some nice ideas to make it better," he explained.

Felicity groaned at the idea, looking at the ceiling in the process.

"Actually, they were quite good," Diggle hastened to say. He watched the machine pour the espresso. "Something about more fruit and a breakfast deal."

Roy nodded.

"And he wanted to hire a chef so Moira had more free time," Roy said.

"… and wouldn't look over his shoulder while he started," Diggle added in a low voice.

"Can't blame him," Felicity quipped. "I mean, Satan breathing down your neck could be considered uncomfortable."

"I guess so," Diggle said as he put the espresso in front of Roy. With saying anything, Roy walked off to give Anatoli his espresso. As Felicity watched him go, Diggle continued. "After we met him, Thea said he is quite the womanizer. Only managed to have two long relationships in his life but was dating all the time. Not that I care, but you asked. He seemed nice enough."

Felicity raised an eyebrow at what Thea had said.

"Seriously, how have we never heard of him before," she asked, raising a hand in irritation. "It sounds like there should have been loads of gossip! Ugh. Have I ever told you I hate mysteries? They bug me."

They really did.

So, it was decided. She would have to do some research on Oliver Queen.

Diggle took a step away from her and squinted one eye as he looked at her.

"You're going to stalk him online, aren't you?"

"It's only stalking if I get into contact," she said matter-of-factly.

Diggle shook his head at her reply. Bored, Felicity took a look at the glass display case. She announced it was time for a quick visit to the back to get some more cheese muffins and cherry pie, which Diggle volunteered for immediately. She let him, still irritated at the mystery, and started shifting the remaining muffins around so more would fit in the display case. After she relocated most of them, she moved out of the display and bumped her head against the top of the glass case. Muttering darkly, she rubbed the back of her head as she glowered at the display case.

"I hope that's still funny when we exchange you for a new one," she told it bitterly.

With a quick spin, she turned to the bar to be able to welcome new customers. Upon looking around, Felicity saw a customer heading towards the bar. Initially, she was not alarmed and ready to take his order, but when she realized the man was walking towards the entrance to get behind the bar, she instinctively moved there to guard the area. Her hand slid across the bar as she strode to the small gap in furniture that led to the back.  
The man that was walking towards her was looking at the ground and she wondered what had gotten into him to not look where he was going. She observed him quietly. He was wearing a long grey overcoat and had removed his gloves while walking towards her just now. By the time he was about to get to the first button of his coat, though, he was getting too close to the entrance and Felicity coughed. A fraction later the man looked up. He stopped himself just in time from walking straight into her, stopping a good few inches in front of her. As he did so, he continued taking off his coat.

"Excuse me," Felicity demanded. Her eyes flitted towards his fingers as he unbuttoned the coat, then back up again. "What do you think you-"

Her voice trailed off as she recognized the man in front of her. Stubble, blue eyes, broad shoulders. _Yup_. _Stranger Danger_.  
This time he was dressed in something neater, though. He was wearing a blazer on top of a blue shirt and black jeans underneath his now opened coat. But, like last time, he was chuckling.

"Hello," he said.

She made a mental note to look in the system to find out his name as she slapped on a commercial smile. It was time to get the customer away from the entrance to the bar.

"Hi! Welcome back," she answered and gestured to the cash register area. "Can I get you something?"

Behind the man, she could see Roy looking up from Anatoli's table. Trying to get his attention subtly was impossible, so she just looked Roy's way repeatedly. When Roy noticed the two of them, he started gesturing and Anatoli started laughing. She shot them a confused (and somewhat irritated) look.

"No, that's fine, Felicity."

She nodded politely, distracted by trying to find out what Roy was signalling.

The pretty stranger in front of her suddenly moved while she was still trying to find out what Roy meant. Her eyes caught his as he moved around her left to get behind the bar, but she stepped in front of him again quickly. A frowning face was all she got in return. Then again, she couldn't very well read his body language up this close. She could basically feel his breath on her cheeks as she looked up at the man defiantly. She glared at him to signal that just because he was pretty did not mean he got to get behind the bar. And if that didn't warn him, then the fact that she was blushing in anger might. _Or not._  
Angered, she raised a hand to point him to the door when she stopped in her tracks. She stared at the man.

"How do you know my name?"

The man cocked his head to the side and his eyes twinkled. He'd put gel in his hair today, she noticed. But his stubble was still the same length and he still looked at her with a particular look in his eyes that she couldn't quite place. As she watched the man, he extended his hand towards her as much as he could with a small smile. Confused, Felicity shook his hand, which was propped somewhere between them.

"Hi. I'm Oliver Queen."

Her eyes widened minutely and her mouth opened a bit in surprise. _Oh God. Will I ever learn?_

"Hi," she squeaked. Then, as an afterthought, she added. "Again… Sorry, I didn't realize- I always thought you were a customer. Sorry. That was a late call. Well, technically, you called it. That is not to say that you are late with anything but it is just an observation. Well," she glanced at the clock on the wall above the bar. "You're also late since it's _way_ past nine. So… I guess the general observation is that we're both late."

Felicity watched his lips stretch out into a smirk and backtracked what she had just said in her mind. _Nope,_ she concluded. _I'll never learn._ Then she held up her hand.

"Just – forget everything but the 'hi'. I tend to ramble when I'm surprised."

Oliver squinted his eyes at her and it made his eyes reflect the light around them.

"I noticed," he replied. "It's fine. And I'm sorry I'm late."

The blonde pursed her lips in thought, mocking him. Then she nodded gracefully.

"You're excused," she said with a smirk on her face.

She readjusted her glasses and saw Oliver shaking his head with a smile in reply. While she was watching him, the door behind her opened and she could hear Diggle coming through. Thankful for the distraction of her shameful mistake, she darted away to help him immediately and slid away the doors of the glass display case for Diggle. Grunting a thanks, Diggle moved past her and put a huge tray with muffins and pie on the bar.

Felicity turned back to Oliver when she was sure everything would work out without her help.

"Either way," she said. "Nice to meet you."

Oliver nodded and smiled back at her. Diggle noticed she was talking to someone for the first time and looked up as he put a muffin in the case. With a polite wave, Oliver acknowledged him. Diggle grinned at the man who was leaning against the bar, now.

"Back so soon," he asked. "I thought you were letting your mom get used to the idea?"

Oliver shook his head with a grin.

"I had to meet every staff member formally. Got to do it right," he said. Then he looked at both of them questioningly. "Busy day?"

Diggle looked at Felicity, who shook her head and announced she had to get something in the kitchen. There was some embarrassment that she had to get rid of. She caught Diggle's answer as she walked through the door.

"According to Roy it had its ups and downs. Rush hour was busy. Moira burnt a cake, though."

The last bit made her stop in the doorway. _He did not_, she thought to herself in amazement.

"Not another one," Oliver groaned in reply.

Wide-eyed, Felicity turned her head to watch him. _Not the reply she'd expected_. Oliver was shaking his head and looking at the counter top like something was inherently wrong with it.

"Thea told me she'd gotten better at baking," he exclaimed.

Diggle snorted.

"She has. _When they aren't burned_. She burns one every four days," he said to Oliver.

That surprised Felicity.

"Four days? I thought it was one per week," she exclaimed.

Oliver groaned again.

"Not making it any better," he muttered at the counter top.

Felicity tapped her arm as she thought about how she could make it better.

"Well apparently one in four women cheat on their husband so at least this is still a failure rate for something less morally tainted and much more innocent."

Diggle rolled his eyes at her poor attempt of consolation and Oliver shook his head sadly.

"Unbelievable," Oliver muttered.

Felicity nodded, grabbing a pen and pointing it at him lazily, though he wasn't looking at her.

"I know. I mean, think of all the STD's, the probable pregnancy scares, thinking up excuses. I couldn't do it," she answered.

Nobody answered her.

Shaking his head, Diggle patted Oliver on the shoulder as Oliver mourned the loss of the cake and Moira's baking skills in general. When everyone refused to reply to her honesty, Felicity moved behind the counter to get to work again during the lull in conversation. Instantly, she spotted a doubting customer who wanted to order. She waved her over, hoping she had missed most of their conversation.

"Can I get you something?"

The woman came forward, stopping and leaning against the counter. She looked familiar.

"Could I get two Cherry Dreams, a Ginger Latte and a Cinnamon Delight?"

"Yup."

Nodding, Felicity pulled out her pad, writing down the order and putting her pen behind her ear again. She noticed Oliver and Diggle busied themselves with adding food to the glass case display. Watching them distractedly, she turned to the computer to add the drinks to the girl's tab, but wasn't sure which table it was anymore.

"Table five, right," she asked.

The brunette smiled and nodded. Felicity squinted at the young woman and finally remembered where she knew her from. She'd served her just the other day and they'd had quite a long conversation about university. Her whole group was working on a project for university somewhere in the alcoves of the bookcase maze.

"How's the project coming along," Felicity asked, curious, while she poured out a Cinnamon Delight.

Next to her, Diggle had turned around and had started on the two Cherry Dreams.

"We're about halfway," the woman answered. "It's going faster than we thought it would."

"What kind of project was it again? I remember English Literature but I don't think you mentioned a subject."

Diggle chipped in, pointing a spoon with whipped cream on it at the girl.

"Christopher Marlowe, right? Dido, Queen of Carthage?"

The girl raised her eyebrows and then she sent him a broad smile.

"You remembered," she exclaimed, surprised.

Diggle nodded and turned back around to finish the two Cherry Dreams.

"I try," he answered.

The customer smiled back at him and Felicity winked at her as she got to work on the Ginger Latte, not in the least bit surprised. Diggle was always very social with customers.

"Well, you get back to work and I'll get you your coffees in a few minutes, okay? Good luck!"

The girl hurried back to her table at that, smiling back at Felicity when she walked into the maze. Felicity watched her go as she and Diggle worked on the order. When Felicity had turned her back to the shop to add some cream, a young woman at the table next to Knyazev's raised her hand.

Without bothering to look up from his Cherry Dream creations, Diggle noticed her. Oliver had, too, though, and he walked over and took her order without discussion.  
Felicity and Diggle shared an impressed look as they continued work. The new boss himself walked back and got the juice their regular Caitlin wanted.

Caitlin was one of their younger regulars. She worked at Star labs, but the woman came by at least once a week to sit and read quietly, as well as work. Felicity knew Caitlin vaguely via her ex Barry, who Caitlin had worked with, but she was nothing more than an acquaintance. Especially after that awkward break up – how do you break up with a guy in a coma, anyway?

Either way, next to Caitlin, the other regulars were Anatoli Knyazev, Miss Rochev and Mr. Bertinelli who were all older and not as quick on their feet as others their age. Felicity kind of had a weak spot for those last three. Mostly for Anatoli, to be honest. He was, after all, the one who mock-flirted with her every day of the week. Shaking her head at that thought, Felicity got back to work.

By the time she had arranged all coffees on a tray, Oliver had just given Caitlin her juice. Next to her, Diggle offered her a piece of a broken muffin and Felicity happily munched on it. When she was done, Felicity picked up the tray and walked towards the bookcase maze.

As she walked towards Oliver and Caitlin to pass them, Felicity's gaze was pulled to the man who was soon to be her boss. Her hands tightened around the handles of the tray when she found him looking back at her as Caitlin spoke to him animatedly, which caused the cups to move around. When he noticed her reaction, one corner of his mouth turned up at the same time as one of his eyebrows.

"I thought waitresses had steady hands," he asked, gesturing at her hands clenched around the tray.

Felicity stopped in front of him and had to bite down an _I thought bosses didn't flirt with employees_. Instead, she went for the safe option.

"I thought bosses were notorious for their busy schedule and hardly noticing their employees," she answered with a sweet smile and a pointed look at Caitlin's table.

Oliver smirked.

"I thought blondes liked attention."

Felicity huffed.

"Some of us have standards," she answered.

His smirk faded away slowly and he had a confused frown on his face. Felicity smirked and moved around Oliver promptly, which caused her ponytail to bounce up and down as she walked away. When she got to the entrance of the bookcase maze and looked back, though, Oliver's gaze was still following her as she turned the corner, his mouth slightly open.

* * *

On the way back from the group of university students, she took a detour to see if the skype business meeting at table ten was going as planned and if the three old ladies sitting around table nine were doing okay. On her way back with their orders, she slowly came to a halt when she got to the section with dystopian books. She leaned back against the bookcase across from it to look at them, fascinated.

Though she much preferred to read books on her tablet or e-reader, she loved the smell of books, whether new or old. In fact, that was the reason she had two large bookcases filled with her favourite books, back in her apartment. In all fairness, she didn't read much now, with her two jobs, but she managed a book every three weeks or so. Actually, she had thought that being a complete book-nerd was a requirement to work at the shop. So she acted like one during her interview. But Moira had never bothered her employees with that aspect of the shop too much. Felicity had been hired because she liked books and was good with computers. Mostly the latter. Diggle had been hired because Moira was trying to gain gender equality amongst her waiters. Thea had been hired because she was Moira's daughter. So you see, Moira had never really worried about that aspect too much.

Neither had Felicity, for she had been in dire need of a second job after moving to Starling City to work at Walker's Incorporated for one day a week. With no money from her mom and only her own savings to live from, she had no other choice. So she had applied for the daytime version of her mom's job in desperation. Any job would have done at that point, really. But here she was now, official barista for three days a week and IT-specialist for another three.

As she grabbed a book from the shelf in front of her, she wondered if things would change with Oliver here. Diggle had said the man didn't want too many changes and Felicity did not really feel like he would ruin the place, but she had to be careful. Felicity had seen how sudden people could change, with her mother, so she had learned to be careful. Opening the book and leafing through it, unbidden thoughts of Oliver's cerulean blue eyes as they followed her around the shop and the playful tone in which he replied to her, entered her mind. She couldn't help but like how he reacted to her, how he tilted his head to the side almost endearingly and how he had blatantly disregarded her plea to forget all she'd said, only to encourage her disloyalty towards her soon to be boss. He was… different. From what she was used to. Although everybody would be different from Moira with her downright evil persona.

She wiped the sweat from her forehead and touched the spine of a few books.

By now she could have stopped working here and saved herself from exhaustion. But if she was perfectly honest, she had kind of fallen in love with the place. With the bookcase maze, the smell of books and coffee, the regulars and her fellow workers. Well, with everything except for Moira. She _feared_ Moira. But, on the other hand, she had gained some good friends here. Sarah, who'd just left them two weeks ago to go work for a travelling agency, Thea and of course Diggle. The barista was her rock, the place she went to if she needed advice. Well, most of the time he realized something was wrong and asked her before she could tell him, but still. She was the one he dragged out and she was the one who made him laugh and vice versa.

So, even though she could have started a full time job at Walkers Incorporated already, she had not, in favour of this small shop. And she didn't really regret it, she realized as she looked at Orwell's _1984_ in her hands. It was a way for her to stay social, keep meeting people instead of sitting next to Ronald-her-fellow-nerd, listening to Donny, the manager of their department at Walker's Inc. as he complained about their work. No, honestly, she felt like it had been the right choice.

* * *

Once out of the maze, she spotted the two behind the bar almost instantly. She also noted that Oliver had gotten out an apron. It looked good on him, she thought. She couldn't help but chuckle at the interaction of the two, though, since Diggle was ready to jump away as soon as Oliver dropped something. But even when Felicity had moved past a few times to get her coffees, Oliver had not dropped even a cherry, which was rather rare. On his first day alone, Roy had managed to drop a bowl of cream, all the strawberries they had and two mugs. This must be some kind of record. Caitlin said as much from where she was seated, thoroughly impressed, and Anatoli Knyazev agreed enthusiastically. Felicity just shook her head and reminded them all that the day wasn't over yet. That made Diggle call her a killjoy and Caitlin tell her off. Grinning at Oliver, she fled with her order and only returned after a small chat with the ladies of table nine.

When she got back, Oliver had joined Mr. Knyazev at his table and they were talking animatedly like old friends. Diggle said they knew each other from a long time ago and Felicity wondered about the circumstances under which the Russian man and Oliver would have met. As she did so, she started helping Diggle with cleaning the bar and she emptied the glass display. It was five now, close to closing time.

She hummed to herself as she moved away the muffins and bagged them.

"And," Diggle's familiar voice asked from behind her.

The blonde rolled her eyes, refusing to answer. Diggle did this from time to time, to get her opinion on people.

"And," Diggle urged again.

She turned around, leaning on the display behind her with her elbows.

"And what, Digg?"

Diggle gave her a look.

"He's been staring at you all day," Diggle answered drily.

Felicity's mouth went dry. Over her shoulder, she looked at Oliver. A jolt of electricity passed through her body when she found him looking back at her. She looked away quickly.

"I don't think he's very familiar with the word no."

Diggle chuckled, then left that part of the topic alone. Felicity looked at Oliver again. As she watched, he removed his apron to show to Anatoli and she wondered how he was ever going to become their boss if a simple apron still amazed him. Oliver glanced over at her again, grinning knowingly when he saw her looking, and her mouth went dry. _Damn that man_.

"He does seem to know his mother well," Diggle observed, unplugging the blender.

"Yeah, but so does Thea and all her screaming got us nothing," she answered. She looked back at Diggle. "He is getting a higher function, though, so he could make more of a difference. That much is true."

Diggle stared at her suspiciously.

"Nothing about children of Satan and all that?"

Felicity shrugged. She didn't think Thea was particularly satanic, either. She turned around, leaning on the glass display case and tilting her head to the side. Their subject was currently writing something on a piece of paper and showing it to Anatoli.

"One thing's for sure," she said as she observed Oliver. She tapped on the counter with her finger and grinned. "Sales are going to go up."

Diggle stopped cleaning the blender and raised an eyebrow at her.

"_What_? A woman would have to be blind not to see the muscles on that man," she replied. As she looked at their subject talking to Anatoli, she continued. "Even I would be lining up to get him to pour me out a coffee."

Wordlessly, Diggle shook his head. He went back to cleaning and continued with the espresso machine.

"What about his ideas? More fruit on display, a breakfast deal," he asked, back turned to her.

Felicity bit her lip, distracted by Oliver and Anatoli. She couldn't help but find Oliver's interaction with the regular fascinating. They had obviously known each other well before Oliver left since they were clapping each other on the back and laughing.

When Diggle sneezed, she got back on track again.

"I don't know. I would have been more enthusiastic if he wanted to give us all IPads to take down orders," she confessed.

Diggle stopped his cleaning to rinse the rag he was using and raised his eyebrows at her.

"You're saying you like Satan better?"

Felicity chuckled at the nickname and threw up one hand while turning to Diggle.

"I'm not saying _that_, I'm just saying who knows what that hell-spawn could turn out to be like? There's nothing wrong with a bit of common sense. People these days don't use it enough."

Diggle shrugged in response.

"Well, _I_ hope to be pleasantly surprised by him," he admitted as he wrung out the rag in the sink.

"Don't we all," Felicity muttered.

* * *

**A/N: To copy Digg:**

**"And ..?"**

**What do you think? =) Please tell me!**


	3. Chapter 3

**A/N: Thanks for all reviews I got, I'm happy some of you are still enjoying this/ are interested in where this is going. Don't get me wrong, I am as well but I wrote it to entertain myself this holiday so I already know how it ends. Aren't those the best stories though, the ones you write for yourself?**

**Either way, THANK YOU for embarking on this adventure with me, please let me know what you think after/before/during/ whenever. I'm happy with any tips or reviews, really =)**

**This chapter is really early but its in tribute OF THE AWESOME NEW TRAILER OH MY GOD I AM SO EXCITED**

**ITALIAN**

**ITALIAN**

**I MEAN ITALIAN.**

**Disclaimer:** Yeah if I'd own it I wouldn't be writing it here I'd be writing scripts over there.

* * *

Chapter Three

x

* * *

The following week, Felicity saw Oliver almost every day she worked at Beans Consolidated. He helped her serve customers and sometimes he even helped his mother. Minor point of irritation: he had been late every day.

But to be honest, he turned out to be a lot nicer than she'd thought he would be. He actually took work off her hands instead of being in the way and once he'd gotten back into making coffees, he turned out to be a natural. Which was handy, because though Felicity could manage on her own, she liked the system she had with Diggle, barista and waitress working together, best. It was efficient and it was nice to be able to chat between taking and serving orders. So they recreated that situation and the system worked like a charm, once again.

Because of this new discovery, Felicity got round to actually having conversations with Oliver instead of small talk. In a short period of time she learned many things about the man. For instance, he had been studying in four different schools before he disappeared, all of which he was sent away from. She wondered how he planned to take over the shop from his mother with no degrees but she figured that was Moira's call. Then, when she dropped Sarah's name in a conversation, Oliver also explained he had been friends with Sarah before he had left the shop. Actually, he had been in a relationship with both Sarah and her sister Laurel at one point, but he had sworn off dating sisters after that. Apparently, he still kept in contact with both of them, though. Once again, that made Felicity wonder how nobody had ever mentioned him, but she kept that to herself. Just like her sarcasm at his 'never dating sisters again'- she didn't understand that _at all_.  
In short, she gathered a lot of information through her prying. Not that Oliver minded. He answered all her questions. Some easier than others, though. He sometimes thought about a question as he stared at the exact same spot just over her head for minutes. There had even been a few questions that had caught him so off guard he had thought about for half an hour before he could answer her, but with her working and serving customers it never turned awkward. She would leave and work and he would make the next order or work on some sort of new drink as he thought of an answer to her questions. It was a solution that worked, Felicity decided. Plus, those new drinks were rather good, Felicity had to admit. Oliver knew his coffee combinations, that much was clear.

In contrast to his barista skills, his baking skills were only so-so, though, which amused all staff members greatly. Diggle and Roy joked it must mean he should get in touch with his feminine side and Thea had just giggled every time the topic came up, for days. Felicity teased him saying it was in the family. But he didn't let any of it slide, though. He let Diggle and Roy have a try at baking too, which they failed at and he told Thea to shut up repeatedly. Even Felicity wasn't forgotten. Oliver started asking her for coffee time and time again to get a rise out of her. Obviously, Felicity kept refusing him, which somehow led it to become a sport for Oliver to actually get her to bring him coffee at some point. Not that it was ever happening.  
Felicity wasn't necessarily against pouring a coffee for him as a person, but she would be damned before she would be pouring coffee for her boss to suck up to him. She had worked too hard, studied too long, to do that. So she refused and Oliver kept asking. He had made a habit out of it and all the staff members had bets going on how long it would take before she would succumb. Actually, among many other new qualities she'd discovered about herself when around Oliver (like blabbering, why why why), she had decided that 'saying no to Oliver Queen' could definitely be an addition to her resume's special skills section. The puppy-eyes that man could make anyone give in. So far, she had not, though, and was proud of it.

Now, a week and a half after their first encounter as employee and boss, he seemed to have given up asking for the day. He was working somewhere in the back, looking at the administration, and Moira had gone home. Felicity herself was cleaning the coffee machine on the side for the next day as Diggle closed up the shop and swept the floor. When she wiped the last of the coffee spatters off the machine, she threw the rag in the sink and stretched with a yawn, looking at the clock. She pumped her fist in the air when she saw the time.

It was finally time to stop working.

When Diggle was done, he pulled down the chairs from the table in front of the counter as always. He sat down with a sigh and patted the chair next to him when he saw her looking. Reaching down, Felicity pulled out a beer from the fridge and poured herself a glass of red wine, not even thinking of anything less than an alcoholic beverage. She removed her apron and took the drinks to the table.

"Time for alcohol," she announced as she flopped down on the chair next to Diggle.

He sighed, took his beer from her hand and pressed it against his temple.

"Amen," he agreed, raising the can a bit.

As they sipped their drinks, they sat in silence. For a while, they stared out the windows of the shop. People were rushing by to get the last of their shopping in their cars or to go out for dinner, all dressed up. It was weekend, Felicity realized when she saw a ridiculously short skirt go by. It was weekend and, she realized, for the first time in a long while she was free. All because Oliver had agreed with her timetable and Moira had not intervened and made her work through the whole weekend again. She smiled happily.

"Can we celebrate my freedom by getting sushi?"

A groan from her left.

"I'm too tired to move," Diggle observed.

Felicity whined.

"But I need food," she complained.

Diggle snorted.

"Is that a hint to get me to whip up something edible?"

Felicity batted her eyelashes at him.

"Maybe," she said coyly, drawing out the word.

With a sigh, Diggle got up again and walked to the counter to soil it once again by making cheesy bread, one of their joint favourites.

"Fine," he said whilst pointing a knife at her. "But you're getting Oliver to join."

Turning her head, Felicity licked the wine off her lips.

"What?"

Diggle moved his head to the bookcase maze.

"He's doing administration. He needs saving," Diggle stated.

Felicity looked at her glass, in doubt. When Diggle gave her a pointed look, she checked her ponytail as she stood up and walked away.

"If this gets me fired, you're sharing your pay check with me next month," she called out as she walked through the maze. Diggle snorted on the other side of the bookcase wall.

As she passed table eight to fourteen (or the way to them at least), Felicity revelled in the smell of the books around her until she got to the door of the administration office. Once there, she adjusted her dress and opened the door quietly.

"Oliver," she called inside. "Are you still here?"

She walked in and looked around. It had been a long time since she'd been in here. She whistled softly.

It looked like a bomb had exploded. There was paper everywhere: the floor was barely visible. It made it extremely difficult to walk around and not get footprints on anything. On the desk were even more piles of paper, rustling softly in a breeze of wind coming from one of the large windows behind the desk. Next to the stacks of paper there were also accounting books, strewn around on the desk. Behind them, she could see something move. She walked around the piles of paper carefully and smiled when she saw Oliver in his chair. He had a puzzled look on his face, eyebrows creased in frustration and a pen between his lips. Cautiously, she walked forwards.

"Hey," she said.

Oliver's gaze slid from the paper up to her and he smiled around the pen. He put it away quickly.

"Hey. Sorry, I was just trying to make sense of," he moved his arms to indicate everything. "This."

Felicity laughed.

"I know, it's a lot to take in."

Wide-eyed, Oliver nodded.

"Yeah."

Felicity grabbed a paper from a stack near to her. It was an invoice.

"You know," she explained. "I offered your mother to get it all in a system on the computer so it would take less time to pull up papers and to see how we were doing. But she wanted to do it by hand, except for orders. I get to do those online."

Oliver lowered the paper in his hand and looked at her.

"You could make a program for this," he asked, disbelief etched on his face.

Felicity grinned.

"Always surprises people to come across a smart blonde for once," she said. Oliver grinned back. Then he turned to the books and stacks of papers in front of him, indicating towards them.

"So you could get all this on the computer?"

Felicity looked around with pursed lips and nodded slowly after a moment of thought.

"I would need two days, a laptop, internet and a scanner but yeah. Generally, I could."

Oliver gave her a big smile.

"That would save us so much time," he said, excited. "I'll discuss it with my mother."

With a gleeful nod, Felicity agreed, though she did hope she would be getting paid for those hours. Oliver smiled back broadly at her. He moved his gaze around until he spotted the paper in his hand again. Then he raised the paper again, looking at it closely. The moment they had passed all too soon as he started reading it at his leisure. Felicity rubbed her hands together in doubt. Should she really invite him to drink with them? She pursed her lips together then and made one hand into a fist as she thought of what Diggle would say if she chickened out. With a determined nod, she let go of her lip before opening her mouth again.

"Actually," Felicity started. Oliver lowered the paper and looked at her. "I came to ask if you wanted to take a break with me and Digg. We kind of have an end of the week ritual. If you feel like joining, you're welcome."

Jacking her thumb over her shoulder towards the door behind her, she bit her lip again. His gaze went from her hand to her face and she felt like she was being scrutinized. His blue eyes twinkled when she moved nervously and she despised him for noticing.

"Will there be alcohol," Oliver asked. Felicity nodded with a smile. "Then count me in."

He stood and motioned for Felicity to lead the way. She spun around on her heels and opened the door. She did so with great difficulty, due to the stacks of papers on the floor. When he had caught up enough to hold the door, Oliver let her go first with a playful smile and locked the door behind them. The moment he turned the key, he looked relieved. It was a private little look that Felicity caught, because when he turned around and started walking away from the door, it left his face. She hurried to catch up when he looked over his shoulder to search for her.

"So before we get to the promised alcohol," Oliver started. "Care to tell me how you got to be a computer genius?"

With a smile on her face at the memory of her university days, Felicity answered.

"I studied at MIT and now work as ICT-department member at Walkers Incorporated part time," she explained. Oliver nodded while she waved at their surroundings and continued. "The other three days I work here."

A grin slowly found its way on Oliver's face.

"For four years, I remember?"

She raised an eyebrow at him, daring him to go on the newbie-road again. Luckily for him, he didn't. When he was silent, she answered.

"Yeah. I kind of started for the money and never left. It is ironic though, since I hated that my mom was a waitress but … this place just got to me."

Oliver smiled and cast a look at their surroundings.

"This place does that to you," he agreed.

As they walked on slowly, Felicity spotted a napkin underneath one of the tables they passed and stopped to get it. She bent down quickly, grabbing it. While she moved up, she glimpsed at him again. His enticing gaze was still on her.

"Since we're playing twenty questions," she said, gaze not leaving his. Oliver chuckled at the words. "How come I haven't heard of you for four years and then you suddenly appear and are to take over the business?"

The man in front of her shrugged and opened his mouth to reply when Felicity clumsily made a short turn out of the alcove and knocked a few books off their shelf. She stopped short and Oliver reached down to get the books quickly.  
She watched him scramble around to pick them all up and move up again. As he got up, he turned his body to her, gazing at her as he did so. From where he was standing, only a few inches separating Felicity and himself, he slid the books back in their place without looking. As he did so, he leaned forward and got into her personal space. She could feel the heat radiating from his body. When she breathed in, the scent of wood and smoke hit her and it made her feel light-headed. Her skin started to tingle at his proximity and though she tried to fight it very hard, lust coursed through her veins as she drowned in his cerulean blue eyes. He made no indication to move back and so they stood close as he answered. The moment his mouth opened, her eyes were glued on it.

"Oh," his low voice drawled. "I've been travelling. I was in India.. China, Europe, Russia. On an island near Australia for some time. All around, really."

Felicity raised her eyebrows when she finally pieced together what he'd said.

"And nobody worried because, what, you're a douchebag?"

Oliver stepped a bit closer at her answer, maybe threateningly, but it had the opposite effect. She could now feel him brush against her when he chuckled or moved his hands as he answered her mock-insult. As he did so, she was struggling to keep her hands to herself and not force his hand to keep still by grabbing it and lacing her fingers through it. She bit her lip as another waft of his scent came her way and he was still looking at her as fascinated as he had been for days, now.

"Maybe I kept them up to date?"

Felicity thought about that for a moment, looking to the side. Then she stood on her tiptoes and answered Oliver with a whisper in his ear. She felt his stubble scratch against her chin as she did so and it sent shivers of anticipation coursing through her body.

"Seemed less plausible."

Once again, Oliver just stared at her for a second, confused and unsure about whether he had just been insulted or not. With a big smile on her face she stepped around him and continued on her way to her glass of red wine. Laughing quietly, Oliver followed soon after.

When they got to the table, Diggle had finished the cheesy bread and had whipped up some dips to go with it. Oliver sat down and Felicity stalked past him to go to the counter. Diggle patted Oliver on the shoulder and asked him after the administration. Before Oliver could answer, though, Felicity cut in.

"Beer, Oliver?"

Oliver leaned back and peered at the woman in front of him. But this time, she wasn't mocking him, for once.

"What, you're really offering?"

Felicity smiled sweetly.

"Only once in a blue moon," she replied. Then she put her hand on her hip. "So?"

Oliver nodded.

"I'd love one."

Without another comment, she reached into the fridge for a cool beer and opened it. She joined both men at the table and sipped her wine while Diggle asked the questions. While he did so, she got a chair to prop up her feet.

"So, Oliver. I gotta say, why the sudden interest in the shop? I mean, I've never seen you around," Diggle asked.

Oliver looked at his beer for some time, then picked it up and sipped it. He sought out Felicity's eyes when he answered.

"My mother always wanted me to take over but I never wanted to. Now, after five years of travelling, I've changed. I'm no longer the wandering, slick guy I used to be and all the jobs I could get here were things that fit the old me. Except for this," he said, pointing at the ceiling. "This place doesn't care about brands and arrogance, it's much more down to earth. I never understood that until now."

Felicity sipped her wine again and closed her eyes as she tilted her head back.

"Sorry to interrupt," she started. "But this wine is the best thing in my life yet, Diggle. You need to buy wine for the shop more."

Diggle and Oliver laughed. She grinned in response. She waited until they had finished before she asked on.

"How come you changed," she asked Oliver.

Shrugging, he moved on his seat.

"I saw so many things happen right in front of me- it made me lose my initial naivety. I realized being myself was enough."

Diggle nodded enthusiastically. Felicity nodded, too. She, too, had lost her naivety pretty early on. It had taken her a long time to realize what had happened to her mother was not her fault, though, and that acting like the perfect daughter would not solve it. Her mother had to solve it on her own. She bit her lip at the memory and watched Diggle as he explained himself.

"Took me multiple tours to find out," he agreed.

Oliver leaned forward and his eyes had widened.

"You were in the army," he asked.

As Diggle nodded, Felicity sipped her wine.

"Did a couple tours," Diggle said.

Felicity slapped his shoulder.

"Shut up," she told him. He started nursing his shoulder immediately. "John did four tours and he has saved at least eight lives directly."

Oliver smiled at her defensiveness. After he nodded, a comfortable silence settled over the group as they sipped their drinks. Felicity caught Oliver's gaze a few times. Then, Oliver seemed to be wondering about something.

"I guess you've worked together for long?"

An enthusiastic nod from both of them.

"A week after I stared, he applied. He knew nothing, was trying to get his life back together. I convinced Moira, your mom, to take him in."

Oliver put his beer down.

"I'm glad. You can whip up some nice specials, Diggle."

The bald-headed man shook his head as he chewed on a piece of bread with pesto. Felicity followed his example.

"I'm okay," he admitted. "But Felicity comes up with the taste combinations. She's good with 'em."

Interested, Oliver leaned forward on the table.

"Oh," he asked, one raised eyebrow. "And you're never serving me again, still?"

The blonde snorted and stood up at the same time. She grabbed Digg's empty beer and her glass.

"I could let you have a taste of the Oliver Queen drink I had in mind," she said coyly. He looked interested. Then she continued with a deadpan voice: "Mostly vanilla."

That made Diggle laugh loudly and she looked smug as she opened another beer. While she refilled her wineglass, Diggle waved away the joke when a clueless Oliver tried to ask what about that was so funny. When Felicity came back with the drinks she gave her soon to be boss a smug look.

"It means," Diggle managed. "She's got a good job at Walkers Inc. and needs a bonus there and not here."

Oliver shook his head. Diggle winked at Felicity, which she appreciated.

"Shame," Oliver said airily. Felicity studied him when he continued, taking a piece of bread from the plate. "I kind of liked it when she served me, last time."

This time it was Felicity's turn to roll her eyes.

"Memorize it for a rainy day," she suggested.

Diggle laughed next to her and she grabbed another piece of bread from the plate in the middle of the table. Oliver was chuckling as well and had his head tilted to the side as he watched her, a hint of a smile on his face. He tipped his beer her way and turned to Diggle.

"I like her. Does she always act this way?"

Diggle sipped his beer and glanced at Felicity, then back at Oliver with a knowing grin.

"Pretty much," he answered. Felicity opened her mouth to reply, but Diggle went on. "What, you are. Not to Moira, though. Your mom already hates her enough without any sassy backtalk."

Oliver raised an eyebrow and turned back to Felicity, who was glaring at Diggle.

"She hates you?"

The blonde moved her gaze from Diggle to Oliver slowly. She sipped her wine and nodded. Oliver ate some bread as she replied.

"Well," she answered, then gave it some thought as she sipped her wine again. "I don't know why. We just don't work together very well."

Oliver leaned forward in surprise and curiosity.

"But you're still here?"

Diggle and Felicity nodded.

"She's basically the manager," Diggle remarked. "She makes the orders and deals when your mother is working in the back."

Felicity shrugged.

"Like I told you, I don't mind. I like it here. I like working with Digg and Thea, even Roy. I love the shop. I couldn't think of a world where I didn't visit the shop once a week."

Oliver smiled genuinely at that.

"Good. We need you," he said, tipping his can of beer to her. Then, he sighed and looked around the empty shop. "My mother is always quick to judge others but is blind to her own mistakes."

The blonde IT-girl answered his sad smile with a weak one of her own. Diggle downed the rest of his beer and gobbled down the last bit of cheesy bread.

"Yeah well, whether she is downright satanic or angelic, shit happens," he answered, resigning to his fate. Then, he put his empty beer on the table. "And we need to work with it."

He stood up from his chair as he pushed it back and walked over to the coat rack near the entrance.

"Anyway, I need to work tomorrow and I still have to see Lyla tonight-"

"And you said you guys weren't dating!"

"-so I'm calling it a night. Also, we're not. I'm leaning how to make cocktails, there's a difference."

Felicity rolled her eyes and put her wine glass down. Diggle grabbed his coat and held it in his hand as she replied.

"If you think I don't notice you texting and smiling all the time, you're wrong," she answered, glancing at Oliver with a conspirational smile as she teased her friend.

Diggle sighed and shrugged into his coat. He grabbed Felicity's long coat after that, giving her a questioning look. Felicity nodded and sent Oliver an apologetic look. He emptied his can just as their eyes met.

"Sorry," she said. "I'm beat. Are you going to be okay?"

Oliver nodded.

"Yeah, you guys close up the front. I'll try to get the administration back in shape so I can leave," he responded, more to Felicity than Diggle.

She snorted as she collected her glass and Diggle and Oliver's empty beer cans.

"Good luck," she said.

Oliver groaned as Diggle walked back to Felicity to hand her her coat.

"I know. Should I ask my mother about the digitalization plan?"

Felicity nodded.

"Yeah, if she agrees I'm in," she answered as she took her coat from Diggle.

During the time she took to button up her coat, Diggle moved back to the front door and let his keys jingle in his hands to make her hurry up. She smiled at Oliver and jerked her head to the front door. "Well, we're heading off. See you Monday!"

"Have a nice night," Oliver called out to them as Diggle opened the front door.

Both Diggle and Felicity waved before Diggle let her get out first. Together, they walked out of the shop and locked it after them.

* * *

When they walked into the alley, Diggle to get his bike and Felicity to follow him, Diggle grinned at her. He hung over his bike to unlock it and looked up at her as he did so.

"And?"

Felicity rolled her eyes.

"And, _what_, Digg?"

Diggle was full-on smirking, now. But he shook his head.

"Nothing."

Felicity let it be and walked back to the street again.

"Ugh, can't wait to get home and get some good wine and good TV on," she remarked, stretching her hands above her.

Behind her, Diggle snorted and walked out of the alley too, bike handle in his left hand.

"Alright, alright, calm down," he joked. "Let's get you home, first."

And so Felicity left the shop and its new owner behind, but not after looking back a few times.

* * *

**A/N:**

**Yeah so basically they're still getting to know each other. It's a bit of an I-wanted-to-explain-more-about-characters-in-the-AU-and-not-have-them-be-Mary-Sues case. Either way, it's not yet into the big olicity stuff but next chappie there's interesting stuff happening!**

**Please,**

**Read and Review =)**


	4. Chapter 4

**A/N: Right-o! Another chapter! I hope you like it- I know I had a great time while writing it during my holiday. Sorry if it's all going a bit slow but I've recently gotten a job as a teacher and my nights are A LOT longer due to being so tired. I love teaching but it takes a LOT of energy.**

**Anywho, another chapter. There's more Olicity in this than in others but we still aren't getting to the good stuff- this is a multichapter one so you better be ready for the slow burn!**

**Disclaimer:** Arrow nor characters are mine!

* * *

Chapter Four

x

* * *

After a relaxing night of watching up on her favourite TV-shows and a day of lazy hanging around with her surrogate sister and best friend, Norah, Felicity felt completely re-invigorated. She and Norah had gone to the park to relax with some wine and after, the two friends had danced on radio music as they did some cooking in the privacy of Felicity's kitchen. Then, before Felicity knew it, it was Monday again and she had to get up early for work. Not that Felicity minded. She could use some distraction.

As she walked out of her apartment building, Felicity adjusted the bag strap on her shoulder and nodded. Yup, thinking too much was a bad thing today. She had already done that for hours, last night, after a particularly inquisitive phone call from her mother. It was rather rare to get that kind of call from her mother, but on the few occasions that Donna decided to be a parent, she turned rather confrontational in an effort to make up for lost years. As Felicity turned a corner, she heaved a sigh at the thought of the phone call.

Donna was a nice woman: that was not the problem. She was, now, anyway. There had been bad years, that much was true, but Donna had gotten out of that place and her recent marriage to John had definitely helped lots. But she was just not Felicity's mother. She had been, before the alcohol. But then, by the time Donna had decided to put down the bottle for good and turned around to look for her daughter, said daughter had figured out the world already. In fact, said daughter was planning to travel halfway across the country to get a better chance at life than her mother had had.  
So, though Donna had taken up her role as a mother again, she had yet to prove herself and both Felicity and her knew that perfectly well. Which resulted in these kind of phone calls where Donna would ask her what she was going to do with her life, if she had enough money, would she not come down and stay over, soon, had she found a man yet and how many friends she had… Frankly, Felicity privately referred to them as police conversations due to the immense likeness between the questionings she saw on television and Donna's phone calls.

As Felicity waited for a traffic light, she watched a father hold his daughter's hand in front of her and she fidgeted with the seam of her skirt as she did so.

The problem with those phone calls was that they always made her feel completely incompetent. She had no idea where she was going- she only knew where she was now. She had just enough money to get by and she was still just as enthusiastic about hacking and television shows as she had been when she was twelve. As a part-time job, she was a waitress and at her 'mature' job, she had to listen to people complain about her work daily. The flat she lived in was still her own and there was nobody waiting for her when she got home. The amount of friends she had was still countable on two hands. In all honesty, there were worse places to be in, but it never felt that way after Felicity ended a phone call with Donna.

As Felicity crossed the street behind the little family in front of her, she shook her head. After the phone calls, she always got to thinking and thinking was never good. Just last night, she had spent hours thinking about how to better her situation and how to live her life to the fullest. It had been a night of pondering. She had scrutinized nearly everything in her life. The mental image of Oliver's face had even come by a few times. Felicity made a fist of her hand as she walked towards Beans Consolidated, her nails pressing into her skin as if she was punishing her hands for their treacherous itching at the thought of his stubble. But the sight of Beans Consolidated as some sort of safe haven up ahead made her feel relieved. Maybe at work her mind would leave her alone.

From afar, she noted that she must be the first one there since the front door was still closed. She fished in her bag for her keys and bobbed her head along to the music she was listening to on her MP3. It would be her and Roy today, since Diggle had his obligatory day off. When she had found her keys, she opened the front door and put the tables and chairs outside. Inside, she started getting everything ready and soon, Roy joined her and they got to work.

The day went by as expected- since Diggle wasn't there, the drinks came a little slower and they were a bit off. Felicity knew how to make them all, don't misunderstand- she just sometimes messed up and slipped in too much cinnamon, cream or anything else really. But, since Roy handled most of the customers while she worked on their drinks, she had time to correct her mistakes and they made it work.

It had a few weeks since Roy had started working at the shop, but it didn't feel that way at all when Felicity worked with him. He knew exactly what to do and when to do it. Even with the staff, Felicity thought he fit in perfectly. The boy seemed completely at ease with their style of conversing in front of the customers, he didn't complain about the job (actually, he didn't really talk all that much) and when he said something, it was witty, to the point or intelligent. From what she could surmise, Roy had quickly and silently worked his way into all of their hearts. Diggle had started exchanging music with the boy and even Moira listened to his advice. Thea was, of course, smitten. Felicity couldn't blame her- Roy was, after all, a beautiful guy.  
The most interesting thing about him, though, was where he had come from, in Felicity's opinion. The Glades wasn't an easy place to live in and from what Roy had told her after prying, his life had not been an exception. His mother and father were not on speaking terms, his mother had gone to jail when Roy was young and Roy's only brother went to rehab not long after. Basically, Roy had been fending for himself for a long time. Felicity couldn't imagine being in that kind of situation and still being positive, let alone coming out as the nice, good person Roy had become. It scored him major points in her book. Plus, he liked chocolate chip mint ice cream. Funnily enough, that was their main bonding point, but it was enough.

With genuine smiles, lots of jokes, some singing here and there from Roy and an overdose of coffee fumes, they got through most of the day and it was only in the afternoon that Felicity was reminded of her mother again.

It was nothing, really. Just a customer with a voice that sounded like hers. Nonetheless, it made Felicity whip around wide-eyed. When she realized the woman wasn't Donna, Felicity closed her open mouth with a snap. Still, Roy had seen her reaction to the woman and after he had placed the group of three at table ten and the theatre section, he came back with an order and a questioning look.

"So… are you going to tell me what _that_ was? Do you know that woman?"

Felicity shook her head and gripped the paper he was holding out for her tightly. Roy glanced at the paper before letting go. After looking through the order, Felicity reached above the bar to get mugs and glasses. Then she replied.

"It was nothing. I thought it was my mother."

Roy raised an eyebrow and made himself comfortable by leaning against the counter.

"Oh, yeah, that's usually how I greet my mother too," he observed drily.

A hint of a smile touched her face.

"No, I meant," she answered and stopped arranging the mugs in front of her, tilting her head as she wondered how much to tell him. "She – we don't get along well."

Roy turned away to check if the customers were still happy, then turned back. He leaned forward on his elbows, nodding.

"My mother and I are the same," he answered. Then he looked at the granite counter underneath his arms as he rubbed his palms together. "Mainly because she went to jail, though. What's your excuse?"

Felicity looked at him from the corner of her eyes as she poured syrup into a few of the cups. He was watching the syrup, mesmerized. He seemed genuinely interested, Felicity thought when he looked up with a questioning gaze. She relented.

"Donna – my mother, likes to ring me and give me the what-are-you-doing-with-your-life call," she answered, making quotation marks in the air. Roy nodded, still looking at her for more information. "She rang me yesterday for my monthly fill. It's just- I know I am becoming a spinster in an apartment and I should just get cats already but I just don't need her to tell me that."

Roy grimaced.

"Yeah. My mom doesn't understand why I took on a normal job," he explained. "Not that I get that many phone calls and not that I visit her often, but when we talk, she judges me. So I get what you mean."

Felicity pushed up her glasses and put some whipped cream on top of four of the coffees she'd just poured. She bit her lip in concentration and nodded at Roy before she replied.

"Isn't it odd that just because they are family we let them say whatever they want," she wondered aloud.

Roy nodded and grabbed a tray from behind the counter for her to put the coffees on. He watched her place them on it carefully while he was looking for words. Halfway through, he opened his mouth again.

"Well… all I can say is, life is what _you_ make of it and if you're happy, don't worry too much about her."

She pushed the tray towards him and nodded.

"I know."

Roy moved to turn around and she looked to the side and sighed. In her own little world, Felicity wondered if she was really happy and if not, how she could become happy. Roy stopped short.

"Okay, whatever it is she said to you," he said forcefully. Felicity jumped. "Forget about it. If you don't forget about it soon, I'll make sure to slip some vanilla syrup in your coffee when you're on break."

Felicity's mouth fell open.

"Don't you dare soil my liquid gold," she threatened. "I'll have you know I can ban you from airports and change your identity with a few taps!"

Roy smiled sweetly.

"But by that time you'll already have drunk the coffee and that face after might just be worth it."

Felicity squinted her eyes at him in mock-anger as he walked away laughing. With the tray in his hands, he turned around halfway to the bookcase maze and winked at her. The blonde watched him turn around the corner. He was right, really. She made her own life. But the problem was not that she thought her life was less or that her mother thought so. Her mother had never been able to live without alcohol, except for the last six years, so how good of a source was she anyway.

No, the problem was that the call had made her think about her life in general, but in particular her love life. And when she said love life, she used that term loosely. It was more of a non-existent love life. Next to the few occasional boyfriends at MIT and a few stalkers, she had been single for a few years now. There had been dates and there had been a Barry-situation that had come close to going steady. But when he was struck by lightning and ended up in a coma, it kind of went awry. Though she did send him cards and visited him every two months, the relation had stopped before it even began. Next to Barry, there hadn't been any guys in her life except for Ronald the ICT man, her boss Donny and Roy, Diggle and Oliver. Which of course brought up the thought that Oliver was extremely good looking, down to earth and nice. But she had no idea if they had things in common and more importantly, if he was single. She had no clue if he really was that much of a flirt, either, and if he was, would she even want to be with him?

Next to those things and most of all, the man was her soon-to-be-boss. Since she could not afford to lose her job, that meant it basically came down to the fact that no, she had no love life up until now to speak of and the dry spell would continue.

A sigh escaped her lips at the realisation. She looked at the rag she was cleaning the sink with. She grimaced. Well, at least she could say she was married to her work. Not at all what an old spinster would say.

In a moment of insanity, Felicity started envisioning how a marital agreement between her and her job would look, when she was shaken out of her reverie by a voice.

"Well Hello, Miss McDreamy," a high pitched voice sang in her ear.

Felicity moved back in reflex and held up one hand. When she saw a familiar face in front of her, she lowered her hand slowly.

"Thea," she breathed. "Geez, give a girl some warning!"

Thea chuckled, leaning on the counter with one elbow. She reached out and took the rag Felicity had used for cleaning and chucked it at her. With quick reflexes, Felicity caught it before it hit her.

"It's not my fault you scare easily," Thea replied. Felicity threw the rag on the counter behind her. "Besides, you are meant to be paying attention."

Felicity raised her eyebrows mockingly.

"Excuse me? This from Miss 'Candy Crush' Queen?"

Thea scratched the back of her head with a smile.

"I was close to the high score, though," she defended weakly.

Across from her, Felicity rolled her eyes and shook her head. She grabbed the rag from behind her and started wiping the side of the bar Thea was leaning on to keep herself busy.

"Anyway," she said. She looked around and saw Roy talk to Mr. Knyazev. He had already noticed Thea, judging by the looks he was throwing her. "Was there any _particular_ reason you came in on a day with _no shift_?"

Thea nodded.

"I need tea," she responded.

Felicity looked at the ceiling in exasperation. _Seriously?_ That must have been the worst excuse Thea had come up with until now. Thea didn't even like tea.  
Lately, Thea had been coming in more and more on days she wasn't needed. Common factor: Roy was there. Thea and Roy had been dancing around each other for a few weeks now, when they all knew each of them fancied the other. Especially after Thea started requesting more shifts together and Diggle had caught the two of them kissing in the back. But they still weren't going steady.

Felicity saw Roy approach the counter and she waved at him like Thea did. Before he got there, though, Felicity leaned over and whispered in Thea's ear.

"You better be thankful for this," she hissed in warning.

Thea gave her a puzzled look but looked at Roy again as he joined the group.

"Roy," Felicity asked with a dramatic tone. "Could you please get this poor lady to the week schedule in the back? Apparently she is illiterate and cannot read her name."

Thea's head snapped her way and she glared at Felicity, but Felicity raised her eyebrows at the girl. If she was getting time alone with Roy, she should be thankful instead of complaining. Especially if it meant Felicity was alone during the afternoon rush.

Roy, on the other hand, led Thea to the back theatrically to supposedly talk about the schedule. It caused many a client to smile and Felicity saw Anatoli cross his fingers for the two of them. Felicity grinned in victory at him and was about to do a little victory dance when the kitchen door opened again and Satan herself emerged.

Without missing a beat, Felicity put on the espresso machine for Anatoli's earlier order and got back to cleaning. Next to her, the body of Moira turned multiple ways and then stopped when pointed in the general direction of Felicity. When Felicity looked up, silently praying for salvation, Moira's eyes zeroed in on her and she regarded Felicity as she worked.

"Felicity," she asked with little compassion in her voice. "Have you seen my son?"

The blonde came up from her bent position.

"No, not at all. Did he get in through the back?"

Moira nodded distractedly as she looked around the shop. When she couldn't see her son, she looked around the bar area to inspect Felicity's work. Suddenly, she stopped short. She breathed in deeply whilst grimacing. Alarmed, Felicity glanced around but saw nothing that could have caught her attention. Then, Moira reached out and picked up Felicity's tablet from next to the cash register. She put it down on the counter in front of them. _Shit. _Felicity had forgotten to hide it after reading, that morning.

When Moira started talking, she did so slowly and drew out every word.

"I know for a fact that you are very smart, Felicity," she remarked. "Which could lead me to believe that you have started to consciously disregard rules I set for my employees. I think I have been very clear about this. I don't want _my_ personnel using these _things_ for their own entertainment when I am _paying them_ to work."

Felicity bit the inside of her cheek, remembering Thea and her Candy Crush era. But of course, Thea was Lucifer's daughter so she was free from blame. In resignation, Felicity looked at the ground. Moira herself was pinching the bridge of her nose, eyes closed in irritation. Felicity kept quiet, knowing that talking back or talking reason with Moira never worked. Moira let go of her nose and regarded the tablet again. She seemed to have made a decision.

"As your boss, this is the last time I am tolerating this," she said calmly, placing one hand on the bar. "I am confiscating this for now. The next time I see one I will deduct a days' wage off your pay check."

Immediately, the hair at the back of Felicity's neck stood up and she let her mouth fall open. _That bitch!_

"Oh, mom," someone called. "I see you've found the tablet! Good!"

Both Moira and Felicity turned to the voice, which came from the shop area. When Felicity spotted him, Oliver was already halfway across the room.

"Realized I'd forgotten it when I was in the administration room," he told Felicity, throwing up a hand in frustration. He reached out and picked up the tablet with practised ease. Rolling his eyes at his own stupidity, he turned to his mother. "Of course, I needed it to make the pictures for the digitalization so I would have noticed within seconds, but still."

Moira just looked at him, hand still on the bar, startled by all his words and explanations. He looked at his mother with an apologetic look when he noticed.

"Sorry, did I interrupt you?"

There was a second of hesitation in Moira's frame, but then she smiled and shook her head. Felicity watched the woman, in awe of her quick change of heart and the quick change of atmosphere in general. Earlier, Felicity had gotten chills of anticipation when Moira had emerged from the kitchen, but now that Oliver had joined, it felt like Moira was content and happy with the world and everything in it. It was eerie what family could do to Moira and how much she was willing to forget when it came to them. Felicity shook her head at her boss' apparent Achilles' heel and sent out a silent thank you to whomever was up there for its presence.

"No, you didn't," Moira said. She threw an arm across his shoulders. "Have I told you how happy I am that you're helping me, dear?"

Oliver slipped his arm around her middle and smiled at his mom. Felicity watched Oliver as he blatantly lied to his mother. She admired the five o'clock shadow on his face and the depth of his eyes. It wasn't a far stretch to think he had probably already seduced dozens of girls with those looks.

"Yes, but it's always nice to hear again. How's the baking going?"

Moira pulled back her arm and patted Oliver's shoulder in reply.

"Fine, fine. But I should get back to it. I only wanted to tell you there's some more bills in the mail and other than that, I am telling both of you," she started, sending Felicity a dark look as she pointed at the tablet. "Keep that thing out of sight; it's not good for our image."

Oliver nodded and Felicity followed suit immediately. Moira seemed satisfied with that and turned around to walk through the kitchen door. Blown away by what had just happened, Felicity and Oliver watched her go. They glanced at each other as the door closed behind the woman. When it had closed completely, Felicity's gaze shifted to Oliver while he listened intently to what happened on the other side of the door. His jaw was set, the smile he had put on for his mother dropped the second she had turned around and she could see the muscles in his arm stretch and bulge as he lowered the hand with the tablet.  
When the voices of Thea, Roy and Moira began talking on the other side, he let his shoulders fall down from the position they had been in. A small, relieved sigh escaped him and he glimpsed back at her. When they looked at each other, Felicity could not stop the intense warmth she felt from forming a smile on her face. With a ridiculously broad smile, she reached out for a high five. Oliver slapped her hand with a proud grin and then handed over the tablet.

"Thanks," she gushed. "I owe you."

Oliver chuckled. Behind the door, Moira yelled at Thea. Oliver made a face.

"You _do_ need this to help me, right," he asked.

Felicity patted the tablet.

"Yeah," she said eagerly. "Plus, a girl's gotta have her technology. I wouldn't be anything without this baby. Devices are this girl's best friend."

Oliver tilted his head to the side and gave her a look.

"You are the weirdest girl I have ever met," he stated.

Felicity hid the tablet in its usual spot, the towel drawer, then tightened her ponytail. She squinted her eyes at him as she did so.

"Maybe you just never met the good ones."

The man in front of her didn't answer, but she saw the corner of his mouth turning up. She grinned back at him.  
To her side, she suddenly heard a loud cough and when Felicity looked over, she saw Anatoli pointing at the espresso machine. _Shoot._ She had forgotten to bring him his espresso. Feeling guilty, Felicity immediately grabbed his cold espresso and chucked it in the sink. She started a new one for him and gave him a thumbs up. When it was done, she excused herself for a second and brought the regular his drink.

"I'm sorry, Anatoli," she gushed. "Here's your espresso."

Mr. Knyazev took it, shrugged and waved her closer. She stepped forward and leaned down.

"It's fine. Listen," he started. "I need to talk to you. It's about Oliver."

Felicity frowned, glanced back and saw that Oliver was looking at the both of them. Her heartbeat quickened when their gazes met and with a blush on her cheeks, she turned to Anatoli again.

"Yes?"

Anatoli took a sip of his espresso before he answered. Felicity looked at his wrinkled hands as he did so. She wondered if he had any family left.

"You know you promised me a date first, right?"

Chuckling, Felicity glanced back at Oliver, who raised an eyebrow at her. He could probably hear most of the conversation. She felt her body tingle at the thought of him watching her every move. Ignoring it, she turned back to her customer.

"Mister Knyazev, we're not dating," she explained. "You know that. He's your friend!"

The old man stared at the table in front of him darkly.

"But it won't take long before you are," he muttered. Then he looked up, the twinkle in his eyes back again. "Which I don't mind, as long as _we_ go on a date first."

Felicity sent him an endeared smile and caught a glimpse of Oliver as she scanned the room again. He was still watching her, like a hawk watching its prey. She squirmed under his intense look and she saw him grin.

"Don't worry, your date is safe," Felicity assured Anatoli. Then she continued with a loud voice. "I don't date bosses."

Anatoli shook his head and caught her arm when she tried to walk away again.

"Miss Smoak, you don't understand. Oliver Queen never follows women around with his gaze. Women's gazes follow him," he shared and sent a meaningful look her way. Afterwards, he let her go again and winked at her. "But, as long as I get my date, it's fine either way."

Felicity frowned when the old man sipped his espresso again and turned around to face the counter. Oliver was still standing there, eyebrows raised as he looked from her to Anatoli and back again. When their eyes met, Felicity attempted to get the fire inside her to calm down. No such luck. With her tray at her side, she walked back and joined Oliver at the counter again.

Before he could ask her about it, Oliver was interrupted by the kitchen door opening and Thea and Roy walking out.

"No, I think that's perfect," Thea said loudly. "I'm sure Felicity agrees. You take my Saturday afternoon and I take your whole Wednesday. Right, Felicity?"

Thea glanced at Felicity, who was surprised but otherwise saw no reason for it not to happen. She nodded and Thea smiled.

"Right, it's settl-"

Roy stopped her.

"Wait a second, isn't that police party on Saturday?"

Thea smirked.

"Is it," she asked sweetly. "I completely forgot. Thanks for trading, though. _That_ would have done me in."

Roy opened his mouth to speak but nothing but pure indignation came out. Thea pecked his cheek and walked away past Oliver with a grin on her face. Roy was still fighting himself and trying to say something, but he only succeeded in opening and closing his mouth.

"That's to thank you," Thea called over her shoulder, sending a smile Roy's way. "See you on Monday!"

She walked out of the store with quick steps and Felicity grinned at her back. Trust Thea to get a boy to do everything she wanted with a few smiles and a twist of words. Felicity watched Roy frown and she caught Oliver sending her a confused glance. Then, out of nowhere, Roy started and ran after Thea.

"Hey! Wait a minute, I'm not going to just…"

His voice was carried away by the wind as he ran after Thea. Felicity watched his apron flail around his body in the wind as he followed her into the street. She had raised her eyebrows as she stared after the two and turned to Oliver when Roy was out of sight. His surprised look matched her own.

"That's the first one that had the guts to talk back to her," he noted.

Felicity nodded, completely blown away by the same fact.

"I know," she answered, still surprised. "He might even be able to get her to be reasonable!"

"Wouldn't that be something," Oliver said longingly.

Felicity nodded.

"Maybe he can even get her to stop playing Candy Crush in the future."

They grinned at each other and turned back to the window. Both of them looked outside for another minute, thinking of the possibilities longingly. Then Oliver turned away from the window to her again, but Felicity had spotted a customer with an arm up and a girl that wanted to order from the counter so she stopped him before he could say something.

"Anyway, you go work on sorting those files," she told Oliver. "I need to help this young lady."

Oliver turned and saw a bushy-haired blonde waiting. With a wink at the girl and another smile at Felicity, he turned towards the exit of the bar area. Before he walked away, though, Oliver remembered their project.

"Actually, come by when Roy is back. We need to talk digitalisation. Also, I'll get you the password to my mother's overly protected network instead of the normal one," he told her softly as he walked by.

He stopped on the other side of the bar, checking to see if she'd heard him. Felicity looked puzzled.

"Are we going to need protection, though," she asked, confused.

Then, from the corner of her eyes, she saw a brunette that had just joined the line take a step back in horror.

"Wait- I mean. We are talking about computers. Computers, viruses, fire walls," she tried.

The girl didn't look convinced.

"For anything else I would like to stress the importance of protection. I always say: be smart, wear protection. In fact, I-"

The brunette looked absolutely horrified, spun around on her heel and walked out of the shop. The bushy-haired blonde was laughing in her hand. When Felicity looked at Oliver, helpless, he just grinned. She stared at the back of the brunette.

"… yeah- you didn't want to hear that. I can respect that. Okay."

Shaking his head, Oliver turned and walked away. Felicity closed her eyes when she realized everyone in the shop was looking at her. She could hear Oliver chuckling from inside the bookcase maze. She moved her hand to her forehead and pressed against it, irritated at herself.

As she was standing there, the subject of her inner turmoil came to the surface once again and she sighed in resignation. Well, maybe she had no love life to speak of but she could always die of embarrassment due to unintended sexual innuendos.

* * *

After a moment of shame, Felicity had gotten a hold of herself and started work again. She served several tables, seated a few new customers, waved off Moira when she left and tried out making a new coffee sort with a hint of chocolate syrup and mint, deciding it could be the special of the next week. Around thirty minutes after he had stormed off, Roy came back, muttering as he grabbed a tray to do some legwork in the maze. When he was back, Felicity excused herself to go see Oliver. She had decided she would talk to Roy later; this had to happen now since she had no clue when Oliver would leave.

She made her way through the maze and knocked on the door of the administration office. When there was no reaction even after a second and third knock, she opened the door to make sure he was even there. Slowly, she made her way inside.

It was the second time she was there this week and it only looked marginally better than the first time. There was still paper everywhere, but on the desk there were more binders with papers than last time, titled and all at least. She walked around the desk carefully, trying not to step on anything important. The desk behind the chair, however, was empty. She looked around the room and out the windows, but didn't spot Oliver. Just when she was about to give up on Oliver and thought he'd gone home, she realized the door to the kitchen had been opened and a sliver of light came through. Usually, the door was locked, but she guessed Oliver had found the key somewhere.  
She opened the door further and stepped into the kitchen, instantly spotting the short-haired man at one of the many kitchen tables with papers all around him. He glanced up when she stepped into the room, but she knew he had already heard her long before that. She gave him a little wave.

"So, how's admin working out for you," she asked, gesturing to the office.

Oliver grimaced.

"My mother turns out to be an administrator with the sorting mechanism of a hurricane."

Felicity raised an eyebrow and looked back at the room behind her.

"It might be a family trait," she stated.

Oliver frowned. He put down the paper he was reading.

"Maybe."

Felicity smiled at his confused answer. She stepped into the kitchen completely and walked over to his table, grabbing the paper in front of her to read it.

"So," she started. "When do I start putting it online?"

Oliver sighed and stood. He stretched his arms above his head.

"As soon as possible."

Felicity turned around the order sheet in front of her with the corners of her mouth turned up.

"Tomorrow, then," she asked. Oliver nodded and sorted the paper he was reading on one of the three stacks in front of him. "Okay."

"I'll take care of internet and a scanner, can you bring a laptop?"

"Might have one," she replied sarcastically.

Oliver gave her a look.

"Ok- fine. It's a date. Deal- deal, not date. I meant deal. You never heard that," she gushed as Oliver grinned at her words. "Shut it. It's because Anatoli thinks we are dating that I said that- I didn't do it on purpose."

After she said that, she went about her business again and turned to the higher table behind her that had been pushed against the wall, where the work schedule hung. She pulled up a paper and looked at the work schedule for the following week that she had filled in. Moira had not signed off on it yet, she noticed, so it would probably have to be changed.

"Anatoli thinks we should date?"

Felicity almost jumped at the sound of his voice so close to her ear, but she caught herself just in time. She bit the inside of her cheek and rolled her eyes.

"You could hear every word," she scolded.

She turned her head to the side and saw Oliver tilt his head, still grinning. He was close to her, but leaned over to look at the work schedule as well. In the process, his body brushed against hers and she could feel the bare skin of his arm slide past hers. When he had looked at the schedule, he turned his head to her.

"Only parts. What did he say?"

Felicity looked at his shoulder and stubbornly pressed her lips together. That made him grin more and he moved back to stand on two feet. He reached out a hand to touch her elbow.

"Felicity," he encouraged her softly.

She looked up at his face and _damn him and his eyes_. The blonde looked away sullenly.

"He wanted to date me first. Before you," she answered as she placed the tray she had been holding on the table next to them. She waved her hand with a dismissive air. "Which is ridiculous, of course. I told him as much. I mean, you're my boss and okay, you are good-looking – though I heard men like handsome better. I wonder why. Is it because-"

"Felicity," Oliver interrupted.

She quieted and looked up again. His eyes were twinkling and he had pulled one side of his mouth up into a smile. When he stepped closer, her heartbeat went faster.

"Your point?"

She felt a thrill at the low voice he was using. Was it possible to go that deep? Apparently it was. She looked away from him to focus.

"The point is, Anatoli is jealous of you."

That made Oliver chuckle. She could feel the warmth he was giving off, now, and his smell was intoxicating. Spicy and a bit woody. She breathed in deeply just as Oliver leaned a bit closer to say something to her.

"And does he need to be?"

Felicity blinked. She opened her mouth to reply when the kitchen door was thrown open and Roy called her name without looking in. Both of them instantly turned their body its way. Felicity felt a wave of lust go through her when Oliver growled in frustration as the door closed again on its own. He turned back to her and she looked back at him, unsure of what was happening.

When Oliver opened his mouth, Roy once again opened the door and put a foot in the doorway. He called Felicity again, mentioning rush hour and that she was due back _yesterday_. He seemed unable to leave without her. So, she walked away and sent an apologetic look towards Oliver. Her heart jumped when she saw Oliver was scowling.

* * *

On the way back to the counter, she felt a bit dazed by what had just happened. Slowly, she walked over to the counter and stood next to Roy. The man handed her a note with an order and she got to work as if in a trance. Within seconds, Roy was complaining. Honestly, though, she couldn't focus on him long enough to care.

The only thing she could think of was how maybe, just maybe, her love life was less limited than she had initially thought.

* * *

**A/N: Once again, thank you on going on this lovely adventure with me, all of you!**

**I hope it's still all fine and dandy- I'm still trying to keep up the rounded character thing so I'm sorry if its a lot of background, but... i don't like Mary sues.**


	5. Chapter 5

**A/N:** Sorry it took so long but I was ill last weekend and the only moments I can work on this are weekends and then I can upload it on mondays/sundays so ugh anyway here goes!

**Disclaimer: I do not own Arrow or any characters from the comic book series or tv series.**

* * *

Chapter Five

x

* * *

As usual, on Wednesday, Oliver was late. Actually, he had been late every day up until now, Felicity realized as she looked at the check-in schedule. She pushed the schedule away from her. So far, she had not really cared. But then, it hadn't meant she could've slept a few extra hours on those days.

Instead of getting worked up about it, though, she looked at it from the bright side. It meant she had some time to chat with Diggle and Thea and some extra time to wake up. Also, since Thea and Diggle were on shift today and she wasn't really needed, Felicity could just pull up a high chair next to the counter and listen to the both of them while drinking a perfectly brewed Americano. In all fairness, though, it had to be said that that Americano contributed an immense amount to her ability to keep seeing things from the bright side.

Soon enough, Felicity felt awake enough to converse and immersed herself in the conversation. With Thea present, it didn't come as a surprise that the current subject was their new recruit, Roy. The girl was seriously obsessed, Felicity decided. Still, Felicity started exchanging information about the boy with Thea and Diggle listened to them attentively. When they got to information on his love life and whether or not he liked Thea and came up with nothing, they turned to Diggle. Surely Roy would have told another man about it, or so Thea and Felicity thought. That cliché was put down immediately, however, since Diggle met them with a blank face. In response to their disbelief, Diggle complained loudly about Thea bribing Felicity regarding the work schedule and Roy's obvious reluctance to tell him things since he and Roy barely knew each other. When both girls agreed he barely would have _had_ the chance to talk to Roy, Diggle suggested going for a drink soon to amend the situation. Thea supported that idea- Felicity thought it might have to do with her Roy crush – and within seconds, the drink had become a top of the bill staff dinner. Felicity smiled at Thea's antics.

"I'll make reservations and take care of it all," the Queen prodigy said, eyes shining at the thought of all the possibilities. Then she shared a look with both Digg and Felicity. "_And_ I'll get my brother to make sure my mom pays."

She held out her hand to Diggle for a high five and received one, complete with a broad grin. Felicity watched them.

"Nice," Diggle spoke. "Who's coming? Are we inviting Sarah too?"

Shaking her head, Thea replied.

"I love Sarah but this is a staff dinner. That means no Sarah… But what about Oliver joining? You guys like him, don't you?"

Diggle and Felicity looked at one another, but the answer was pretty clear to them both.

"Of course," Diggle said as he counted out the last of the sugar cubes. With a nod, Felicity agreed. "Plus, as long as he gets Moira to pay, he's more than welcome any time."

"Awesome," Thea cheered. "When are we going?"

Felicity pursed her lips in thought.

"We have that police annual meeting here on Saturday, so it will have to wait a week," she said. Thinking, she tapped her finger on her knee. Then she stopped and pointed the digit at Diggle, who was looking at her, opening his mouth to say something. "For which I still need to walk through the menu with Moira, I know, John. …But we could do it next week?"

Diggle nodded, content with the fact that she hadn't forgotten.

"You sure we can't do it this week," Thea asked with a frown.

Felicity doubted that for a second, looking at the counter next to her. When she looked up, Thea and Diggle were standing next to each other. Upon closer inspection, Felicity saw that even Diggle looked hopeful, probably because he hated cooking just for himself. He clasped his hands together as if begging her and when Thea joined, Felicity rolled her eyes.

"Oh, fine. I'm free on Thursday night," she gave in.

A chorus of yes's filled the half-empty store and Diggle and Thea high-fived. Felicity rolled her eyes at the childish behaviour and turned to the door to the kitchen, mentally preparing for a meeting with Moira.

"I'll see you in five- I'm going to get that menu sorted," she told Diggle and Thea.

"Good luck," he said, glancing at Thea behind him who was doing a victory dance with a smile. Then he turned back to Felicity and patted her shoulder solemnly. "Remember, she gave birth to Thea, she can't be inherently evil."

Felicity chuckled at his words, re-knotted her apron and pushed up her glasses. _Time to face the fury_.

* * *

/

* * *

Surprisingly, Moira was in a good mood and handled deciding upon the menu pretty well. She even considered Felicity's input, which was a first. She only considered two of the twelve options Felicity had given, but that was still more than the usual zero. Though the conversation was difficult as always, they handled it and got a nice menu out. Afterwards, Moira retired to the garden for a break and told Felicity she was in charge for ten minutes.  
When Moira was out of sight, Felicity discretely checked the ovens for any cakes that could burn to a crisp while she was gone. Better to be safe than sorry, Felicity had learned in her time here. When she had checked them all and deemed it safe, she walked towards the door to the shop. She put a hand on it to push, deep in thought. She stopped when she heard the distinct, deep voice of Oliver.

"This Thursday? It's a bit soon, isn't it?"

His voice sounded doubtful.

"Yeah," Thea's voice replied matter-of-factly. "But if we don't, it will have to wait another week. Think we can get mom to pay for it, Ollie?"

There was a pause in the conversation.

"But isn't this something other companies decide on weeks before they go?"

There was a dark chuckle that Felicity recognized as Diggle's.

"Other companies don't have Thea," he replied.

"Exactly," Thea's voice exclaimed.

After a barely discernible chuckle, Diggle announced he would go check if the people in the maze needed anything. Felicity tugged at her apron while she heard Diggle leave, ready to go in during the slight pause in conversation. Before she got to push the door, though, Oliver started talking again.

"And everyone's free on Thursday?"

He sounded sceptical.

"Roy, Diggle, Felicity, me, I hope you are, and mom's not invited," Thea's voice counted cheerfully. "Are you free, though?"

"I might be," Oliver's voice drew out teasingly.

"You'll join, Ollie, won't you? I thought you, Diggle and Felicity were becoming friends?"

"We are," his voice agreed. "Which reminds me, does this whole shop hate Vanilla syrup?"

Thea laughed and the words put a smile on Felicity's face, too.

"Kind of," Thea answered. Then she continued, voice growing softer. "Anyway, come, will you? These people are different from your old crowd; they want to have you around, they care."

"Some of the old crowd care," Oliver's voice snapped back, voice raw.

It was silent for a second. Felicity's hand dropped from the door.

"Some of them did," Thea's voice amended. She was silent for a second and then her voice continued. "I'm just saying they're more like Tommy, Sarah and Laurel here. Not like Isabel."

As listened intently, Felicity wondered who Isabel was. On the other side, a sigh could be heard.

"I know, Speedy. Thank you for worrying."

A silence followed but there were a few muffled sentences that made Felicity suspect Thea had hugged Oliver. One sounded suspiciously much like 'm happy you're back'.  
The act itself seemed to have cheered up Thea because she started laughing soon after. When she started yelling for Oliver to stop, though, Felicity realized he was probably tickling her. When the laughter had subsided, Thea spoke again.

"So you'll take care of it? Your schedule and mom and all?"

There was a chuckle.

"Eyes on the prize, right? Of course I'll be there."

Thea cheered happily.

When nothing more was said, Felicity realized the conversation was over. Silently, she stood in front of the door, wondering about Oliver's old friends. Their names seemed familiar. Sarah- was that her Sarah? The one that lived near and had been a waitress here? Wasn't Laurel her sister, though?

Shaking her head, Felicity glanced at the ceiling. Seriously, if that was true,_ why had all these people not mentioned Oliver before_?!

* * *

/

* * *

Due to the fact that walking into the shop at that time would have significantly increased the possibility of Felicity becoming a second version of her inquisitive mother, Felicity had decided it was better not to walk in straight away. Instead, she had almost obsessively cleaned 'her' part of a countertop on the right side of the bakery, where she kept the order files and work schedules.  
After ten minutes her irritation had subsided, though, and she decided it was time to get out there and show her face. She was here to work, after all.

So, she pushed open the door and walked into the shop.

Instantly, she spotted Oliver to her right, making juice, and Thea taking orders in the front of the shop. When Oliver glanced up at her with a smile, she raised an eyebrow at him.

"I see you've decided to grace us with your presence," she mocked Oliver.

Oliver continued blending his smoothie.

"Better late in this world than early in the next," he called out over the sound of the machine with a smirk.

Felicity watched as he put the mixture in a jug, added some sugar to the whole and then swirled it with a spoon.

"Maybe, but the rest of us would've liked to know we could have slept an hour longer," she muttered darkly.

The man in front of her glanced up, eyes big and innocent. He put the jug of juice in the fridge, washed his hands, then turned his body her way and looked at her seriously.

"Sorry. I'll call next time," he assured her.

Before she could answer him, Diggle got back to the counter and asked her about the menu on Saturday. So Felicity sent Oliver a grateful look instead while she explained the menu to Diggle. When Diggle had voiced his approval, she turned to Oliver. Without further ado, she pointed at the maze and grabbed her laptop bag at the same time.

"Right, shall we go digitize and prioritize," she asked, starting to walk. Then she stopped, a horrified look on her face. "Oh God, that sounded so nerdy it isn't even funny anymore. I should stop talking to Ronald and Donnie at work."

Diggle laughed at her in the corner and she scowled at him as she walked away. Oliver just grinned. When they got to the office, Felicity spotted the cleared out space Oliver had created on the desk and the scanner he had put there. When she had put down her laptop, she glanced sideways at him.

"Ready," she asked.

"Ready," he confirmed.

She sat down.

"Right, so I've made a rough list of requirements for the program," she started and pulled out a paper from her laptop bag as the computer in front of her booted up. She handed it to Oliver. "Can you check if it fits what you want from it?"

Oliver pulled up a chair and sat down next to her. He had his legs parted and was leaning back as he read it. Felicity focused on the computer in front of her and started writing the script.

It didn't come as easy as it usually did, though, courtesy of Oliver Queen's closeness. Did he really _have_ to put the chair close enough for their shoulders to touch?  
The feel of his warm skin against hers was driving her crazy, his scent invading her personal space more and more. Thankfully, he had no idea how many mistakes she was making in the script.

She breathed in deeply through her nose, trying to find out what it was about the smell, exactly, that she liked. She couldn't find out, though, because Oliver leaned sideways, grabbed the pen from behind her ear and scribbled some things on the paper. Then, he moved to put the pen back behind her ear again and she couldn't help but hold her breath. When he pulled back his hand, his fingers grazed her ear.

"This should be it. If you can't manage the last things in time, that's fine."

Felicity turned to look at him, realized what he had said and then turned back with an indignant huff.

"I am seriously starting to wonder if you know what it means to have a degree in something."

Oliver shook his head with a grin while looking at the screen in front of them, fascinated at how fast she was typing the script. He didn't reply, however, and Felicity got lost in the world of IT for some time. After a while, Oliver bumped his shoulder against hers softly. When she averted her eyes from the screen to look at him, she found him staring back at her. Her skin heated up when he kept gazing into her eyes.

"Are you going to the dinner on Thursday," he asked. Felicity nodded, her eyes flitting to his lips. Oliver smiled at her. "Good. Thea said so but she was trying to convince me so you never know."

Felicity shrugged, focusing on the conversation.

"I wouldn't miss it, they're my friends."

Oliver nodded and looked at the computer for a second.

"You have a lot of friends?"

She shook her head. _Only one other, really._

"Next to these guys, I have a friend from high school from back home. I don't have that many, really. You?"

Oliver looked in front of him in silence for a while.

"I used to," he said with a quiet voice. "But it turned out they weren't all good ones."

His quiet reaction made her wonder if he was thinking about the woman Thea had mentioned before. Nevertheless, she kept the conversation going and nodded.

"There are many people like that. It's difficult to find the good ones."

Oliver agreed.

"The problem is, I didn't know that when we were friends so when they just let me fall, I was all alone. Except for my best friend, Tommy and my ex Laurel. They kept in contact."

Squinting her eyes at him, Felicity slid to the edge of her seat and decided to just ask.

"Laurel Lance? As in the sister of Sarah Lance, who worked here?" Oliver nodded and Felicity fell back in her chair in surprise, hands off the keyboard. This was unbelievable. "How is it that all these people _never_ spoke of you!? It just doesn't make sense! I mean if your ex and Sarah didn't speak of you it would have been one thing but your mom and Thea? Seriously?"

Oliver had tilted his head to the side and was silently observing her reaction. She groaned in frustration and looked back at him, challenging him for the answer. He, however, seemed too stubborn to give in. The tension between them became palpable in the air as they continued their staring session. After what seemed like forever, Oliver looked away and sighed.

"Has anyone ever told you it's hard to keep secrets around you," Oliver asked.

Felicity smiled sweetly and started typing again.

"Might be because I hate mysteries."

Oliver shook his head and looked at the screen again. Though she was still typing, Felicity had gotten maddeningly curious and could only just about reign herself in enough to not just ask after the mystery. She did, however, tap with her foot as she typed. After a minute of silence, Oliver sighed again and shook his head.

"Do you- do you know the Rochèv business?"

Felicity remembered their semi-regular who had told her about it. Apparently, the woman's daughter owned the company.

"Weren't they lawyers or something?"

Oliver pulled a face and nodded. The face reminded Felicity of how Thea had looked when they slipped lemon juice in her coffee, one time.

"The point is, I slept with their CEO, Isabel."

Felicity frowned in remembrance and she turned her head away from Oliver. The fingers of her right hand tapped on an empty part of the keyboard in thought.

"Isabel Rochèv, isn't she the daughter of that semi-regular that comes here?" When Oliver nodded, she continued. "But I thought she was married?"

A curt nod. Oliver stopped her tapping hand by putting his on it and when he moved his arm to cross the distance, a waft of his scent invaded her personal space again. She tried to ignore it and focus on the issue, but it was hard. He lifted his hand from hers again but from where he'd touched her, she felt the fire spreading quickly. Oliver sat back again.

"Yeah, I got to know her via her mother. I became Isabel's… aside. But I didn't know she was married. When the press found out, they went berserk. I had my own place and they were convinced she'd bought it for me with company money. Overall, I was big news."

Nodding, Felicity pulled off her glasses and tried to get away a smudge on the glass with the fabric of her skirt. She remembered hearing the rumours but she'd never really been into following the stars so she hadn't seen pictures or connected names and dots. She would have, naturally, if she'd researched him like she normally did with people. But she'd been busy.

Suddenly, she remembered a piece of information about the case she'd stored away as well.

"But I thought that man worked with her?"

Oliver smiled sadly and shook his head. When he looked up at her, she could see how he held the hurt at bay in the way he was clenching his jaw. Sincerity swirled behind his eyes.

"No, that was a rumor. After people found out, life was crazy. But the problem was that I did not know what was true or not because I couldn't meet her. Media followed me everywhere. In the end I found out she was married and I broke it off. But it was awful to be here with all the paparazzi around me so I went to family in Central city and then, after earning some money, decided to travel. I asked all friends I still had to keep their mouth shut about me and where I was so I could be at peace. I think that's why you've never heard about me. They kept their promises."

Felicity was silent for a while after she had listened to and watched him. Lines of pain and difficulty were etched on his face and when he was done, he clenched his teeth together in resilient anger. She recognized the feeling. Without really thinking about it, she reached out and put her hand in his.

"Ah, that explains it."

Surprised, Oliver turned to their entwined hands on his knee. He looked up at her with raised eyebrows and she squeezed his hand in hers. Biting her lip, she contemplated if she wanted to explain her actions. When Oliver's thumb started making soothing circles on the back of her hand, though, she couldn't help but give in.

"I know a thing or two about things in the past that hurt," she explained, moving up their hands.

Oliver squeezed her hand and she revelled in the feel of his rough hand in hers.

"Really," he asked, turning his body her way.

She nodded.

"My… mother was a waitress in Los Angeles and she – we did not get along. As you can see, I tried to get as far away as possible," she said.

She glanced up after the explanation and saw that Oliver had cocked his head to the side.

"Your mom didn't want you to study?"

Felicity frowned at that and gazed down at their hands. His thumb was still caressing the skin on the back of her hand.

"No," she explained. "But she wanted me close and I wanted to get as far away from her as possible."

Oliver nodded when she looked away and didn't explain. She was frowning and biting her lips as she did so, so he knew that she was not telling him something. But he knew that trust had to grow. Just because he knew via Thea that she was trustworthy, did not mean that she knew that about him. So he let it be and just gazed at her face until she shyly peeked up at him. When their eyes met, he felt that familiar pull in his gut towards her again and squeezed her hand. He watched her long blonde hair, pulled in a ponytail and her thick-rimmed glasses. She had the bright lipstick on she sometimes wore and he found he loved the colourful addition to her face. All of it still looked the same, yet the girl in front of him now was different from what he knew from the shop. Sure, she was self-confident and sure, she had the ability to win any verbal argument he started, still, but there was something different about her here, in this room, with him. Maybe it was the fact that she had listened to his story and had supported him instead of judged him. Or maybe it was because both of them now knew something about the other that had been buried very deep. Either way, it strengthened the pull in his gut and it made him lean in a bit more.  
He wrecked his brain to think of something to say that would lighten the mood and get that frown off her face.

"Talking about people wanting you close, we never continued that conversation about Mr. Knyazev," he realized aloud.

Felicity's eyes flitted from his to the table.

"Didn't we," she answered, embarrassed.

Oliver shook his head slowly, moving his head sideways a bit to capture her eyes. She shrugged and looked away, but Oliver pulled on her hand. When she looked back at him, she did so over the rim of her glasses.

"You never told me if he had the right to be jealous," he said.

Felicity squinted her eyes and looked at him through slits.

"I never did, did I," she answered, joining the game.

Oliver shook his head slowly, moving closer. He was now consciously invading her personal space and he revelled in the shiver that passed through her body. His breath fanned out against the crook of her neck as he whispered in her ear.

"No. Care to enlighten me?"

Felicity felt like she could have melted into a puddle right then and there. It was maddening to be this close to him and not touch him more. His lips had touched the shell of her ear and the touch of his thumb on her hand was still making fire shoot up her arm and body. Not to mention his breath hitting her neck and his stubble scratching her cheekbones. She made a small sound, unsure of what to say. Oliver chuckled in her ear.

"What's that?"

He moved his head and his lips ghosted over the shell of her ear slowly, driving her crazy. She moved her hand to his arm and held onto it as he kept chuckling into her ear. God, the deep voice, the proximity of his body to hers and the smell… _she had died and gone to heaven._

But she still had to answer. She wrecked her brain for something to tell him. When he moved his head away from her ear for a second, she replied.

"Well, I would tell you but I'm not really sure yet," she challenged.

When he leaned back and saw her biting her lip while smiling, he snapped. He growled and took her head in his unoccupied hand and crashing his lips down on hers.

The feeling of his lips against hers did not come as a surprise but the sparks that raced up and down her body, did. Drunk on the feeling, Felicity followed his lead and was just reaching up to finally touch his face when the door opened. They parted as quickly as they had collided.

"Oliver, could-" Diggle stopped what he was saying as he looked at the two deer that had been caught in his headlights. Both rosy-cheeked, red lipped and holding hands. With a grin, he raised his hands.

"Never mind."

He moved to close the door but then high heels clicked on the floor behind him and a high voice called out at him. He half-turned.

"Diggle, would you tell Oliver to get to the back? His guests are here," Moira called.

Grimacing in the doorway, Diggle turned back to the two of them. They looked the exact same as a second ago.

"Seems like I really need you to come out," he apologized.

Oliver looked from Diggle to Felicity and back. When Diggle didn't budge, Oliver moved his thumb over her cheek and sent her a sad smile.

"Sorry," he said to her only.

Felicity shook her head, not even wanting an apology. It wasn't his fault, after all.

"It's okay," she said, moving her head back so his hand fell away on its own. "Which guests?"

Oliver glanced at Diggle, who had turned around in the doorway to give them some privacy.

"People who sell the coffee beans we use. I'm trying to get a cheaper deal," he explained. Felicity looked down at her knees for a second, a bit disappointed to let him go. He squeezed her hand, mischief in his eyes. "And if you could bring us a cup of coffee that would be awesome."

Felicity instantly glared at him and pulled her hand away from his.

"Let me remind you," she retorted. "I've not worked my ass off just to become your personal secretary."

Oliver chuckled and raised both hands as he stood up. He gave her head a pat and she frowned.

"I wouldn't dream of it," he said. He walked over to Diggle and turned around for a second, there. "I'll check in on you later, okay."

When he had sent her a broad smile and she had nodded in return, he turned around and walked through the door before Digg, moving his hand through his hair and adjusting his shirt. Behind his back, a grinning Diggle gave Felicity a quick thumbs up before reaching for the doorknob again and closing the door with a wink.

* * *

/

* * *

**A/N: Have I mentioned I love the way Diggle and Felicity are with each other in the series? I have this headcanon where between season 1 and 2 they kind of bonded over searching Oliver and became really good mates! **

**Either way, there was action! Hope you guys still like this stuff, I think it's going to be an 8-chapter one so stay with me =) Almost there!**


	6. Chapter 6

**A/N: WELCOME TO THE MEGA CHAPTER that i've taken ages on to edit and write and all. I hope you guys like it! Only one more chapter to go! Thanks for joining on this awesome adventure guys!**

**Also I'm posting this today mainly because... all those lauriver hugs and none olicity.**

**Disclaimer: Not mine!**

* * *

_Chapter Six_

x

* * *

After the door had clicked shut, Felicity had fallen back in her chair. Wide-eyed, she had spent a good hour staring at the screen in front of her, all kinds of thoughts going through her head. They had ranged from Oliver being too good to be true to is-it-marriage-material and the thoughts in-between seemed to know no boundaries. The fact that the kiss had happened at all, however, was the underlying thought that came back every few seconds and immediately after it came the memory of the feel of his lips on hers. Her lips still tingled when she remembered it. Even an hour and a half after he'd left, she could feel the warmth spreading from where he'd touched her body. She could remember vividly how his green t-shirt had pulled taut over his muscles and how those muscles in his arms had felt when she had held onto them. Though time had passed, she could still recall how he had smelt and how his stubble had felt against her skin. It was lovely and yet frustrating that she could remember something small so well. Because though it had been some time since she'd been kissed, she very well knew this had not been a proper kiss and the idea of kissing Oliver _properly_ made her head swim. But, without getting too far ahead of herself, this situation in itself baffled her and it continued to do so for the rest of the day that followed.

Coincidentally, that day came with a surprisingly low amount of Oliver Queen-spotting, afterwards. More like _no_ amount, Felicity thought bitterly. He came in _once_ to wave goodbye at an early time but, since his mother was directly behind him trying to get in and have her say about the digital era, he closed the door again within seconds. So Felicity didn't really think that counted.

After his departure, Felicity had worked for another three hours non-stop. When the work for the day was done, she stretched and got up out of her chair. After she had sorted out the papers left on the desk, she came out of what had been lovingly called her 'techie spot' by Diggle and helped the others close the shop. She was welcomed warmly since many hands made light work and (most of all) because Thea was in a hurry. Not that she showed it, the way she was talking on and on about the staff dinner and Roy. But, as soon as they had locked the front door behind them, Thea stalked away to her car. She mentioned organizing the staff dinner on Thursday as she got in, opened a window and drove up next to them.

"As if you haven't planned it all, yet," Diggle said with a smirk. He gestured to Thea as he turned to Felicity. "I swear, all day she's been asking me about food preferences, napkins, quality – whatever you can think of, it's been asked."

On the other side of the car, Thea stuck out her tongue. Felicity even thought she had spotted an eye-roll, but it was hard to see in the dark.

"Hater," Thea said. Then she smiled at Felicity in assurance. "It will be perfect, though. See you tomorrow!"

Diggle winked at the young adult and Felicity gave her a little wave.

"Drive safe!"

Thea waved back, pulled away from the curb and then she sped away into the night with her black Audi.

Left behind, Diggle and Felicity walked to the back alley in silence. The only sound that was prominent was that of the gravel they crushed beneath their feet. In the background, though, they could hear cars and groups of people laughing. Felicity kicked against a pebble as Digg got his bike unlocked, thinking about her day.

Diggle watched her with a secretive smile inked on his face as he grabbed his bike to walk over to her. When he got there, she instantly headed the usual way. He walked next to her for a few minutes, continuing their silence. Then, he couldn't take it anymore.

"So, I guess you and Oliver, then, huh," he said, more to his bike than to Felicity.

Felicity tensed up, then sighed and looked at the wall on her right, which they were passing.

"If it wasn't an impulse and he doesn't fire me," she acknowledged.

Diggle raised an eyebrow at her since she knew very well how indispensable she was to the shop. This kind of thing could not in a million years get her job into jeopardy. She just smiled at his reaction and looked at the street for some time in silence. Before she could start up another waterfall of words, Digg chipped in, touching upon another part of the subject.

"And?"

Felicity turned her head to look at him. When she saw he was serious, she threw her hands up in frustration.

"_And_ _what_, Digg? Yes, he's handsome beyond comparison, yes we kissed. It's not amounting to anything, that's _what_."

Diggle screwed up his face and looked into the distance.

"Hmmm... I think you guys could work," he thought aloud. "I can see it."

Felicity was silent for a bit and then groaned softly. Not because he was wrong, but because Diggle was affirming what she had thought herself. She looked at the sky in exasperation and then at Diggle. He was smiling, the light of the lanterns reflecting in his eyes. She wondered why he was so prone to asking her about Oliver every few days but instead of asking why, she changed the subject.

"Either way," she teased. "I think the same about you and Lyla. Better hurry up because I'd like to be godmother."

_That_ made Diggle groan as he biked beside her slowly. She peered up at John, who had trouble keeping balance because of their slow pace so he wove his way over the pavement from left to right. He wasn't grimacing. Actually, she could see a lingering smile on his face and instantly knew he was happy with how things with Lyla were. She knew because he had looked that way when he was with Carly, too.

When they had gotten to the corner where they usually parted, Diggle asked if they should grab some dinner together. Something about not feeling like eating alone.

Felicity agreed, happy to share a meal once in a while.

In the end, they had no energy left to get out of the apartment again after they'd gotten there and so they had ended up eating spaghetti Bolognese. As per usual, they drank more wine and beer than water with their meal and after a lot of pasta they ended up on her sofa under warm blankets. Naturally, this, also, was accompanied by some wine, which led to honest yet interesting conversation.

As she sat in her corner of the couch and listened to Diggle ramble, Felicity cherished the moment. These moments with Digg, free of stress, Felicity liked the most. Those where they could joke, talk seriously and get to know each other more. Sure, she liked the shop, sure, she liked going out dancing, but it was on nights like these that she actually felt as if their friendship hung around them in the air, wrapping all around her and keeping her warm. When she had said as much, Digg rolled his eyes and went on a tangent about sensitive women – but she knew he felt it too. He was too sensitive a man not to, no matter what he claimed.

After said tangent (which Felicity tactfully ignored), Felicity and Diggle got to discussing love and relationships and how they had regarded them when they were young. It got Felicity to think about Oliver and so she blurted out her thoughts. Inebriated as she was, Felicity complained to Diggle about Oliver not coming to see her the rest of the day. When Diggle asked her why, she explained what happened and confessed her undying love for Oliver queen, his sexcapades, muscles and sexy stubble. This was something Diggle was immensely amused by and it led to many failed attempts at high-fives and exhaustion afterwards.

When Diggle tried to explain why Oliver had not had the chance to come visit her due to his mother's evil tendency to keep him busy, Felicity politely told Digg that those reasons could all go copulate with themselves and that if Oliver didn't talk to her soon, so could he. Diggle agreed. Instead of talking about that, though, he changed the subject and they discussed Oliver's chances of being successful in Beans Consolidated. They speculated until the late hours of the night and when Felicity finally threw Diggle out, she knew that she would be tired the next day. In exchange, however, she had had a lovely night, so she gladly suffered the hung over feeling it would cost.

* * *

/

* * *

Not that she felt that way the next morning, of course. After a double espresso, she felt a little better, though. In fact, when Felicity got to work, her mood could be described as cheerful. Straight away, Digg and Roy informed her that Oliver had called in to say he wasn't coming in due to a meeting in Central City, which was a surprise, really, because he was scheduled in for work today. He had said he'd be present at the staff dinner that night, though. Before Felicity could ask any questions, however, Moira came in and Felicity fled the scene, opting for the safe and loving environment of ICT and numbers instead of hell's wrath.

When she got to the office, she was once again hit by a wave of scent that smelt like Oliver, courtesy of him being there for so many days. She regarded the oak desk as the door fell shut behind her. It was hard to believe she had sat there a day ago, discussing her life story with Oliver. The fact that she had told him her story was rather rare, to be honest. Of her current friends, only Norah and Diggle knew. Even then, since she had known Norah from growing up, only Diggle had been confided in consciously. Norah had just… been present.  
She had been Felicity's best friend since pre-school and Norah and her mother were the ones that raised Felicity, rather than her own mother. On most nights, she had slept there rather than at home. After one look at Felicity, Norah's mother, Michelle, had decided she was her second daughter and had taken it upon herself to raise her too. She still called Felicity often and vice versa. With Norah, Felicity kept in contact at all times. Whether in terms of internet, calling or seeing each other, it happened daily. They were so close, they had followed each other to Starling City, Norah pursuing a career as lawyer and Felicity as ICT-expert. In fact, they had even lived in Felicity's apartment together for some time. When Norah had met her current husband Jay, however, she had moved out. The so-called sisters still saw each other around three times a week, though, to eat together or just to chat. This meant Norah was fairly aware of Felicity's situation right now and, of course, she knew about Oliver too. And if Norah knew, her mother somehow knew, too. Not that Felicity minded.

In all honesty, Norah's mother felt much more like a mother than Felicity's actual mother. The warmth, the care, the open invitation to come live back home… She was the complete opposite of Felicity's actual mother Donna.

Then again, maybe Felicity wasn't the most objective person around. See, Donna Smoak had started drinking after the death of a dear friend, when Felicity was twelve years old, and in response Felicity had fled the house daily. There had been numerous promises of better lives and many bottles of alcohol drained in the sink but it was only at Felicity's eighteenth that Donna had finally given up drinking seriously. When that change had finally came about, though, Felicity lived at Norah's more than at home and only saw her mother obligatorily, courtesy of Michelle. She went home only to eat lunch and if she felt like it, dinner. In fact, Felicity had already applied to MIT, as far away from Donna as possible. Norah decided to go to a university near MIT and so though Donna protested since she was finally sober and able to take care of her baby, Felicity left. She went home every other holiday and got to know her mother better, but their relation during that period in time could not be called anything other than than strenuous. Some holidays she didn't even tell her mom she was home and just stayed at Norah's in order to have a good time. So maybe Felicity hadn't been the perfect daughter, either.

After two years of that life, Donna had met a nice man called John, who turned out to be a decent guy that made the situation somewhat better. It might have been because he had two children, himself. Felicity was her mom's bridesmaid when they married and ever since, their relationship had been much better. Fact was, however, that Felicity still preferred Michelle over Donna. This might be the result of Donna's recent tries to influence Felicity's choices in life, which were bothersome and way too late in Felicity's eyes. All in all, they made for some hard phone calls and pent up frustration. Which she only shared with Norah and Diggle, normally. But now, she had told Oliver. Which, admittedly, was a good thing. Not that she was purposefully keeping it a secret. She just did not like talking about it.

Felicity sat down behind the desk and sighed at her past. It was good she'd shared it with Oliver. Talking about it with men she liked was always a difficult thing.

As she started working on putting the numbers into the program and working through the stacks of paper next to her, she wondered what Oliver was doing right now. Diggle said he had not given any specific names of whom he was meeting, but there had to be an importance to it or else he would have made them come to the shop.

She frowned. Maybe he was avoiding her. But why?

Looking at the door, she pursed her lips together. Story of her life, really: find a nice man, get close enough and then lose him. Irritated, she pressed the keys extra hard as she tapped on. Seriously, it was one thing to kiss her out of the blue, but a whole other thing to not talk to her again, after. It was plain rude and she didn't deserve that. He'd better talk to her during the dinner. If he didn't, she would have to make him. Biting her lip in frustration, she continued to work. Well, either way, she would find out what was happening, tonight.

As she mused about what was coming, she worked through the stacks of paper around her and when Roy came to tell her it was time to go, she jumped at the sound of something other than her own tapping. When Roy had left the room again, she realized she had had most papers and she only had one stack left to work through. Proudly she filed away the papers, got her things and left the room, ready for whatever may come, tonight.

* * *

/

* * *

That night, Roy offered to bring her to her apartment in order for her to change and then go to the restaurant. It was a question of handiness, really, since Roy didn't want to travel all the way home to change and Felicity's house was on the way. So when they got to her apartment building, they ran up the stairs to the first floor together. Upstairs, Felicity fished in her bag for her keys. As she did so, she caught a glimpse of Roy putting his hand on the wall and bending over to catch his breath and she smirked. Roy noticed.

"Before you start," he warned with a grin. "You _do_ know who's driving you to the restaurant, right? Who's not drinking _just_ so you can have your wine?"

Snapping her mouth shut playfully, Felicity opened her door and flicked on the light. Without turning around, she pulled off her coat and hung it on the rack.

"Fine," she said, pouting and turning to see Roy close the door behind him. "Well, make yourself at home."

Roy waved her off.

"Yeah, go, I'll be fine. I only need to change my shirt so the living room is fine."

Felicity nodded and pointed at the open door to his left.

"Then that's the living room," she said and Roy nodded. She smiled. "Perfect. I'm going to change, see you in five."

She walked away and spotted Roy going into the living room as she entered her bedroom.

After a long internal discussion, a small, apple green dress became the clothing of choice and she added a red lipstick to give it some extra flare. The dress had a bunched up front but it had a very low back that worried her. Nonetheless, it was one of her nicer cocktail dresses and so she decided it would have to do.

When she had applied her make-up and combed out her hair, she walked into the living room and did a little spin. Roy, who had changed into a nice button-up shirt for the occasion, could not keep the surprise off his face. Felicity grinned.

"Ta-da!"

Roy shook his head.

"Man, who knew you would turn out to look halfway decent with your hair down."

Felicity walked past him as she looked for her bag. When she found it, she held up her bag and Roy gestured to the door. Felicity nodded and walked past him.

"By the way," Felicity told him as she did so, "You look okay too."

She smirked at Roy as she opened the door for him. Scoffing, Roy walked to the stairway and waited for her as she locked up.

"As if. I'm single-handedly upping the level of handsomeness between the two of us."

Felicity laughed and walked down the stairs slowly in her heels, careful to place them the right way. There were some nasty memories of forgetting to do so and falling down the stairs that she was consciously repressing.

"Hate to break it to you but the fact that you're too young for strong alcohol kind of ruins that fact," she observed.

"Nah, not really," Roy disagreed.

They looked at each other with a goofy shake of head as they exited the building and entered the car, giddy and happy. When they had both calmed down, Roy started the car and got them on their way to Diggle.

Five minutes later, Diggle had joined them in the car and the radio had been turned on. As Diggle and Roy conversed, Felicity watched the passing city lights for a few seconds, thinking about how nice it was that they could talk like that, like friends, even though it seemed Roy had only just joined the friend group. She watched a few take-out restaurants as they passed them and got to wondering about the night. The moment she asked where they were going, Roy sighed and explained it was Mosquito's Traveler's bar, because Thea wanted something different. They had food from all over the world, from snails to bugs. It made Felicity and Diggle roll their eyes.

"Always the 'different' with her," she agreed.

Roy took a hand off the wheel and waved it around in frustration.

"Tell me about it. I asked her out to dinner and she wanted to go somewhere 'different'. What the hell kind of a stipulation is that," he complained.

Not that Felicity could do anything other than smile, happy that Roy and Thea were getting somewhere and that her predictions were right.

"Yeah, she's a bit difficult like that," Diggle said

"Yeah," Felicity agreed. "Not to mention she's the daughter of our boss, who is very close to the personification of Lucifer, and her brother is the new boss but he is probably really protective of his sis-"

"Yeah yeah, don't remind me," Roy interrupted.

Felicity nodded and turned around again. She stopped halfway, though, curious.

"Where are you planning to take her?"

Roy shrugged.

"Restaurant in the Glades, I guess. It's less fancy but it's different alright."

Diggle grunted and with a nod, Felicity, too, voiced her agreement.

"She'll like that."

Happy, Roy revved the motor and sped away, Felicity holding onto the door handle frantically. Twenty minutes later, they arrived at the bar slash restaurant in Roy's beat up old Mustang. They had picked up Diggle along the way and Roy had just dropped them near the entrance so he could look for a parking spot somewhere in the long street.

Since it had started to rain, Digg and Felicity dashed to the entrance of the restaurant holding their coats above them. In the lobby of the restaurant they stopped and caught their breath. Felicity's ankles were killing her and she wished she'd gone for the other pair of heels that went with the dress but were less high. Groaning, she reached down and met her leg halfway so she could rub her ankle. When she lost her balance and almost tipped over, she grabbed Diggle's arm to stay upright. Diggle silently held her up. He watched the street as he did so, but curiously glanced down to see what she was doing when she went for the other ankle.

"I thought you liked wearing heels," he asked, confused.

Felicity made a discontented noise.

"I do, but my normal heels are a few inches shorter. I'm not used to these heights and sitting crammed in a car for however long that was."

Diggle frowned.

"But then how do you drive to your other job three days a week?"

Felicity kept massaging her ankles, hoping to keep the blood flow going.

"Barefoot," she said distractedly.

Diggle looked down at her and then in front of him again. He shook his head.

"Women," he sighed.

Felicity opened her mouth to reply when Roy ran up to the restaurant and interrupted her. She put down her foot and righted herself as he neared them, waving.

"Right," Diggle said when Roy had joined them. "I guess this is where we go in."

Roy nodded gravely and headed to the cloakroom first. Apparently, two female rugby teams had decided they were eating out as well and let's just say they weren't too keen on staying in line.

As Felicity and Diggle tried to wait for their turn, Roy announced that he was going ahead and would put his coat on his chair. After a reassuring thumbs up from Felicity and Diggle, he went ahead and walked over to Thea, who was sitting at their table all alone, no Oliver in sight. She was wearing a deep red dress that had a low neckline and Felicity watched her greet Roy with a kiss on the cheek. She mentally cheered since Thea only did that to special people, like boyfriends. It was about time the two of them got together, really. Felicity had been giving them shifts together, had Thea introduce Roy to everything and even let them make food for tomorrow since Moira had her hands full with the party food. But, since Roy had said they were going on a date, it was safe to say they were something more than nothing. Felicity smiled as she saw Thea laugh at their conversation and touch Roy's shoulder. Yeah, they were something alright.

Diggle took her coat from her hands, and she watched him as he did so, then glanced back at the two lovebirds. She suddenly had a nagging feeling of déjà vu and looked back at Diggle to discover why. He didn't pay her any attention as he gave off their coats, but as she opened her mouth to ask if he knew, she realized why the situation felt so familiar.

The possible consequences of that realization made her smirk. Diggle turned her way just as she did and a feeling of dread found its way onto his face.

"What," he asked apprehensively.

"Nothing, I just realized you have to drink a Vanilla Coffee."

Diggle made a face, eyes going from left to right in confusion as he wondered how she had come to that conclusion. Felicity's smirk grew wider.

"You lost the bet," she clarified. "They're literally dating. Within three weeks."

Diggle cursed when he realized there was no way out of this and groaned as they approached the table. Just before they got too close, he said:

"Remind me to never bet against you again."

That made Felicity smile, since he always said that, but she nodded nonetheless.

Then Thea spotted them, ran over and hugged both of them enthusiastically. Felicity sat down after the enthusiastic reception, winking at Roy. Next to her on her left, Diggle sat down. Across from her were Thea and Roy and another empty chair, like the one on her right. She put her bag on the chair and did the same with Thea's when said woman handed it over from her side.

They ordered their drinks and some cheesy bread when the waiter showed, to still the hunger until Oliver would show. Felicity bitterly predicted he'd be late like he always was.

When the bottle of red wine arrived, though, her bitterness disappeared and she clinked her glass to Thea's with a bright smile.

"On a wonderful night!"

They all joined in and cheered happily. After the first sip, Felicity made an approving sound.

"This wine is divine," she said. Thea moaned in agreement but Felicity knew she rarely drank red wine. It was at moments like this she missed their former colleague Sarah, who knew a lot about wine as well. "I wish Sarah was here so she could taste it too."

Thea nodded and leaned over the table a bit since Roy and Diggle had started talking cars and they provided quite a lot of enthusiastic noise.

"Yeah, me too," Thea agreed. Felicity leaned forward to hear her answer. "Do you know how she is?"

The blonde shrugged.

"When I rang her a few weeks ago she was boarding people for a trip to Paris and she was fine," Felicity said. She looked at her fork as she continued. "Plus, nothing's been added to her police file so I assume she's doing okay."

Thea snorted and a smile crept onto her face. She shook her head.

"You're still keeping tabs on her?"

Felicity shrugged.

"I just never got her name off my alerting program."

Thea's smile turned into a warm, small smile instead.

"As if you didn't consciously leave it there," she stated, daring Felicity to prove her wrong. Felicity did no such thing, however, and with a small smile, she sipped her drink. Thea rolled her eyes at Felicity's silent answer and got a teasing grin on her face. "You sap."

The ICT-girl shrugged. From her left, Diggle chipped in.

"You're a fool if you think she's not keeping tabs on you," he warned. Thea smiled at Digg, not at all looking frightened. Diggle winked at her and turned to Felicity, joining their conversation. "Did she tell you how she liked the job? Or was it a short talk?"

Felicity pursed her lips together in thought.

"She said she liked it but she was working so she couldn't really talk. She said her and Laurel were busy getting a shared apartment in Central City."

Thea looked as impressed as the others did. When said Queen prodigy moved her glass up, Felicity poured out a new glass of wine for herself and Thea. Roy ate some cheesy bread in the lull of the conversation and the sight made Felicity's hunger surface. She ate a piece as well and sighed happily when she was done. Digg had just finished telling a story about Sarah to Roy, who never knew her. At the end of it, Thea looked at the entrance of the restaurant and then at her watch.

"Oliver's late," she sighed.

Diggle looked at his phone and pursed his lips.

"Not even fashionably, either," he answered in mock frustration.

Felicity turned to Thea after nodding at Diggle's comment.

"Not surprised, here," she answered. Thea looked up, a bit astonished. "Sorry, Thea, but he doesn't take after your mom in terms of punctuality."

Felicity raised her glass to her mouth and went for a sip. Then she detected people's reaction to her words. Instead of replying or giving any reaction at all, Thea was eyeing something behind her. On her left, Diggle was gazing from something behind her to her and back again. She let her wine slide back into the glass but held the glass close to her face. She tilted her head to the right a bit.

"… And he's right behind me, isn't he?"

A big, warm hand fell down on her right shoulder and she closed her eyes for a second, pursing her lips.

"Yup," Diggle chuckled next to her. Diggle reached around her and shook a hand. "Hey, man."

Felicity counted to ten and then looked behind her on her right. The hand on her shoulder did, indeed, belong to Oliver.

"Oliver. Hi," she said with a big smile. Oliver tilted his head at her reaction and raised his eyebrows. She pursed her lips again. "I should not have said that. I wouldn't have- if I knew you could hear."

Oliver frowned at that statement and Felicity hurried to amend it. The moment she opened her mouth, though, Oliver beat her to it.

"Would you really not have," he asked, his tone laced with disbelief.

Felicity pursed her lips together in thought and tapped her cheek, since her glasses were absent, as she looked at him.

"No, pretty sure I would have," she agreed.

Everybody laughed and Oliver sent her a big smile that made her insides tingle.

"Good," he said and removed the bags off the chair next to her.

As Thea welcomed her brother, he sat down. Felicity watched Oliver from the corner of her eyes, feeling on edge from the moment she laid eyes on him. He was wearing a neat, grey suit and a white dress shirt. He had opted to go without tie, something Felicity approved of. She looked at him for some time, but he did not pay her any attention.

Instead, he was conversing with Thea like nothing at all had happened between him and her, which aggravated Felicity. She didn't say anything, though, because she would not be that kind of girl. At least, she would not be in public.

She sipped her wine slowly and as she did so, Oliver's aftershave scent hit her. Upon closer inspection, she saw he must have trimmed his stubble and put on some aftershave just before driving over. She watched his angular jawline and registered the fond look he sent Thea when she told him about her university professors. In all the time she had known him, she realized, family had been very important to him. She vaguely wondered if he would ever look at her like that.

When Thea had told her story, they ordered their main course- or, well, Thea ordered their main courses. Something about trying new things that Felicity agreed with, just not up to the degree of eating bugs. As Thea ordered, Felicity grabbed her purse to look for a mirror and meanwhile mumbled to Oliver:

"If it turns out to be bugs tell her I've developed severe stomach ulcers and I swear I will serve you coffee for a month."

The corner of Oliver's mouth twitched as he watched Thea order. Then he opened it slowly and replied under his breath.

"Don't tempt me to change her orders."

Felicity snorted.

"If you would eat bugs in order for me to get you coffee you need to sort your priorities."

Oliver was having trouble keeping a smile off his face, now.

"Bugs are seen as a treat in China, you know. I may happen to like them," he answered softly.

Felicity made a face.

"Let me rephrase that," she murmured. "You need to sort out your_ life_."

That made an earnest smile curve onto Oliver's face and he shook his head in incredulity. This woman must have been the most outspoken one he'd ever met. Felicity couldn't help but smile as well and Diggle, who had heard their conversation, was grinning too.

Once Thea had ordered for them, they all ordered a new round of drinks. When their waiter left, Thea focused on the group again.

"Actually, we were just talking about Sarah, Oliver. Your ex, remember," she said. Felicity's eyes widened and she keenly observed Oliver's reaction. He just nodded. "Have you spoken to her lately?"

Oliver shrugged.

"I rang her two weeks ago and she said she was doing fine," Oliver shared. "She said she's coming back to see the shop when I've taken over."

Thea clapped her hands together enthusiastically. Felicity couldn't stop a bitter reply from slipping past her defenses.

"Oh, so you _can_ keep in contact," she mumbled more to herself than to all of them.

Oliver had heard, though, and sent her a confused look. The rest of the table had heard her as well, but Diggle saved Felicity from inquisitive questions by asking Oliver one.

"Yeah man, we needed you today. Where were you?"

Recognition dawned on Oliver and he looked around the table. Thea was smiling encouragingly, nodding.

"I went to pick up my degree. I'd left before the ceremony so I had to go and get it," he replied. Then he pursed his lips as if he had a nasty side thought and sought out Felicity's eyes. She was looking back at him without reservations and giving him a chance to explain. He reveled in her honest interest in him. "And when I was there I saw another ex again, suddenly."

Felicity frowned and put both her hands in her lap. As she opened her mouth, the waiter appeared with the main course and there was a moment of discord in which she chose to speak. Nobody seemed to hear her but Oliver.

"Isabella," she asked. He nodded, gauging her reaction. "What did you do with her? I mean- I'm not trying to say you two _did_ anything but I mean- what happened?"

Oliver looked into the distance.

"We went for a drink and talked. It was good, nothing special."

Then the moment was over and they all had their courses in front of them. Felicity was happily surprised with a vegetarian lasagna, Oliver was eating some sort of exotic steak, Roy had gotten a dish with fish and Diggle and Thea had both gotten a dish that included rice and looked spicy. As they started to eat, both Felicity and Diggle let go of the issue of Oliver's absence. On topic, Diggle told them the story of how he had once, as a soldier, been offered a pig's ear as a treat and how he had eaten the whole thing there and had thrown up later. Roy and Thea compared that to eating food their mother had prepared, which triggered mom-talk.

During that part of the conversation, Felicity stilled. Not because she had never eaten Donna's food, she just didn't want to talk about her. Not now, not during a period in time where she was supposed to be happy. Talking about her mother and her whole home situation would ruin that. But in all honesty, she was thinking about it anyway, now, so her mood was already gradually changing. Instead of steering the conversation away from the subject, though, she quietly followed the rim of her wineglass with her index finger slowly. Sure, she listened and laughed where it was appropriate, but she kept her eyes on the glass and was quiet otherwise. When Thea mentioned her mother being drunk one time, Felicity froze and felt like standing up and walking outside, away from the conversation.

Suddenly, a hand slipped into her right one and squeezed.

She glanced down at her hand in her lap in surprise. It felt warm and rough, caring yet protective. Slowly, the warmth from the hand seeped into her soul and she unfroze. When she looked at the owner of the hand to thank him, Oliver was just telling a story about when he was younger and he squeezed her hand in response to her look. Felicity squeezed back slightly, happy someone had noticed her discomfort and wanted to help her.

Oliver finished his story and when Thea took over with one of hers, he peered down at Felicity. When she glanced at him, he squeezed her hand again and she felt a surge of affection shoot through her body and soul. She stared back into his static blue eyes when he grinned. She noticed he was doing so a second later and ended up stupidly grinning back. After what felt like an eternity, they looked away from one another and got back into the world of the living. Then, Oliver looked away and held up his other hand to end Thea's story.

"Enough about our parents, I want to know what's happening now! Roy, are you studying anything?"

Roy nodded but seemed reluctant to tell. Thea bumped her shoulder against his and smiled at him. He looked at her and then at the table again.

"I'm following a course on management," he spoke.

Felicity watched as he struggled with how to hold himself after he had told them. It was understandable, she thought, that he expected negative reactions from them. In the Glades, studying was a waste of time. But then again, Roy knew it was different with them, so Felicity guessed he was just preparing for anything. Not one to act disgusted by learning, she gave him a thumbs-up with her unoccupied hand. Her other hand was burning with the sensation of Oliver's hand in hers. Oliver himself was watching Roy in surprise as Diggle shook Roy's hand.

"Awesome," Diggle said. Then he smiled at Oliver. "Well, it looks like we'll have an intern next year, guys."

Roy's head shot to Oliver's.

"You- You'd do that?"

Oliver tilted his head to the side.

"Why wouldn't I? You're a decent guy. You need to intern, you come to me, okay?"

Grateful, Roy nodded and they all raised their glasses to Roy's new placement.

As the night continued on afterwards, the crew got more boisterous. Felicity could feel the alcohol in her system and she knew the others did, too. She needed some space, she decided. Space and fresh air. As she finished her glass of red wine after dessert, she started rubbing Oliver's hand with her thumb to steel his attention away from Roy, who had moved a chair to their side of the table to talk. After a few words, Oliver glanced over his shoulder. Felicity smiled and pointed at the doors leading outside.

"I'm going outside for a bit, I'm feeling hot," she told him as she slipped her hand out of his grip.

Across from her, Thea also shoved her chair back and patted Roy's head.

"I'm joining," she announced.

With her usual dramatic flair, Thea walked around the table and grabbed Felicity's arm. With big steps, they left the conversation and went outside. The men only rolled their eyes and went on with their conversation.

* * *

_/_

* * *

Once outside, Thea clung to Felicity because it was colder than she'd expected. But Felicity didn't mind. Soon after emerging from the restaurant, Thea sat down on the steps and pulled Felicity down too by putting an arm around her.

"Did you like the food?"

Felicity hummed in thought.

"I did, it was a pleasant surprise. You?"

Thea pumped her fist in victory mutely. Then she lowered it to answer Felicity.

"Yeah," she said. "But I like everything they serve, here. I just like to go here because it's all different recipes and cuisines all the time."

Felicity nodded in understanding. They sat on the steps in a comfortable silence after that. Thea's arm still hung around Felicity. The many people walking past the restaurant towards the city center occasionally waved or smiled at them, but most of the time they didn't notice the two young women. In their own respective worlds, both women only noticed some of them as well.

On the right, Felicity stared at the steps beneath them, wondering about Oliver and how Isabella would look. She really ought to do the regular background check on the guy. She would have, but she had not had time and to be honest, so far he had seemed okay and she didn't want to ruin that. Especially not by finding pictures of Isabella and discovering she was beautiful, smart _and_ athletic.

She sighed and clasped her hands together.

Not that she didn't feel confident of herself. She just didn't feel like she could win from a Doutzen Kroes-kinda-girl. Maybe in ICT-knowledge. Felicity's temple creased and she bit her lip in resignation. Thea pulled her arm back from around Felicity's shoulders and mirrored her pose.

"Trouble," she asked.

Felicity shook her head. She did not want to lie to her friend but she was not about to tell Thea about her issues with her brother.

"No, just thinking about an assignment at work. You?"

Thea shook her head too.

"No," she drew out as she looked in front of them. "I just sometimes worry about Oliver but he seems to be fitting in fine."

Felicity glanced at Thea. She was scratching her index finger and watching it intently, avoiding Felicity's eyes. Felicity's face softened. She couldn't help but find it sweet how Thea worried about her brother. She patted Thea's hand in reassurance.

"He's fine. We all like him, don't we? At least, I and Digg do. I'm sure Roy likes him too, but they are just a lot like each other- very stubborn and all."

Thea snorted.

"Oh, I'm not worried about Roy and Oliver. They'll but heads, but Oliver would never hurt Roy without my permission," Thea answered. Felicity highly doubted that, but she let it slide as Thea threw up an arm and continued. "Besides, me and Roy haven't even gone on our date yet so why would Oliver do something now?"

The frustration that resonated through Thea's words made Felicity grin. Ah, there it was. The issue that was actually bothering her.

"Is that impatience I hear," she teased, bumping her shoulder against Thea's.

"Maybe," Thea said, then cleared her throat. "But I mean, he asked me out and now it's taking ages."

From the side, Felicity peered down at Thea, astounded. Thea was fidgeting with her hands, squinting her eyes in deep thought as she looked in front of her. _Wow_. She knew Thea had it bad for Roy but this was new, even for her. The fact that Thea was so emotionally invested enthused the blonde and so she put her arm around Thea's shoulders to calm her.

"Don't worry," Felicity told her. "Roy is not going to back down. He'll find something special."

Thea sighed.

"Yeah, well… he better make it soon," she murmured. Then, she waved her hand in the air and continued. "Whatever, the point is that Oliver has no right to protect my honor yet. Besides, if he does something horrid, I am _so_ returning the favor."

Felicity smiled. She wondered how Thea would react when she found out the girl to be scared was Felicity. How she would look when she found out the two of them had been kissing. She couldn't help but grin at the idea. Next to her, Thea groaned.

"Not that I ever will because he's _all_ about the Kiss and Ride. I think the last girl he's brought home as a girlfriend is… Laurel?"

Felicity noticed that Thea effortlessly lied, foregoing Isabel in her explanation.

"Really?"

Thea nodded resolutely and seemed lost in thought. Meanwhile, Felicity wondered about her semi-kiss with Oliver. Was that the same? Had that been a 'kiss and ride' event?

She bit her lip.

But he had held her hand just now and he had been nice to her. Even opted to sit next to her. It didn't _feel_ very kiss and ride to her. Then again, if Oliver was used to using the technique, that might all be due to his perfect performance.

"Yes," Thea continued. "He did bring girls home all the time, though. Or he'd be out and about, having multiple dates a day…. It seems like he calmed down, though. He said yesterday that he's not dating right now."

_Ouch_. Okay, true, they weren't dating, but still. That hurt.

"Oh?"

"Yeah, I asked him and he told me off saying he was too busy to worry about dating now, with the shop and getting to know you guys," Thea answered.

Felicity smiled uncomfortably. Well, at least he wasn't dating anyone next to her. Or he was and he had been able to keep that from Thea, too.

"Does the work really stop him from finding girls, though," Felicity speculated. "Or did he decide he should get serious?"

Thea looked at Felicity with a disbelieving look on her face.

"You are talking about the man who dated two sisters at the same time, remember," Thea reminded her.

Felicity cringed.

"At the same time?"

Thea nodded. Felicity shook her head slowly. Even though she knew Thea was purposefully omitting Oliver cleaning up his act when Isabel came around, Thea was not making it sound like an easy feat to be Oliver's girl.

"He broke Laurel's heart. I thought he had no heart when I found out- I was so angry! Who does that," Thea explained and she still sounded enraged about the whole situation. "So I wouldn't be too sure. He's calmed down but he used to bring the same girl home for weeks, maintaining they were not dating. Well, I slept in the room next to him and I can tell you they weren't dating but they sure as hell were getting down and dirty."

Slowly but surely, any hope Felicity was harboring was slowly fading.

"I do hope he settles down sometime, though. I'd like to be an auntie. I think he will – when he finds the right girl. I used to think it'd be Laurel but she's moved on."

"Not Sarah?"

For a second, Thea seemed to contemplate that.

"You know, I liked all the girls he formally introduced at home. I hoped the same for all of them. But he and Sarah went behind Laurel's back so I didn't think they deserved it."

Understanding that sentiment wasn't difficult for Felicity. She looked at a woman walking by with a particularly flamboyant hat as she passed. While she watched the woman walk by, she had a flashback to the times her mother had brought men home. Not that_ she_ had ever formally introduced them, but the phrase did make her remember the awkward situation. How she had stayed in her room and listened to their voices in the hallway until they got to her mother's bedroom and she couldn't hear them anymore. How she had hoped for a formal introduction even weeks after that, but how the men never came back.

There hadn't been many, that much was true. Four or five in a time frame of six years. For Felicity, the numbers had never been the issue. It had been the fact that the men never came back to their house after, because she had always hoped they were the princes that would save her mother. The men had ruined her image of love. It was something she used to blame her mother for. Now that Felicity was older, however, she knew her old ideas had been naïve either way.

Felicity twirled the bracelet she was wearing and looked at it. In her youth, she had always thought that with the right man, everything would be okay. But looking at Michelle and Denati and her own parents, Donna and John, Felicity knew it would never be perfect. Love wasn't just the sweet stuff. There was butting heads, doing things together, feeling hurt and misunderstanding as well. Most of all, love was work. Work and the courage to find a weak point and work on it. But, judging by the loving looks and secretive smiles she had witnessed, it would always come with a deep affection. It would be worth it.

Maybe that was what Oliver had dreaded all these years. All the hard work. Maybe that was why he had not talked to her yet, as well. He must not have known she wanted the whole deal. Felicity frowned in irritation because _that_ was something he could have spotted from a mile away. He could have given her a wide berth, but no. Frustrated, Felicity made a fist out of one of her hands.

Next to her, Thea pulled one leg up to rest her head on as she turned her face to Felicity. Said blonde looked up at the movement and glanced at Thea with one arched eyebrow.

"How are Diggle and Lyla, for real," Thea asked, rubbing her leg to get warmer.

"Probably having eye-sex while making cocktails, still," Felicity lamented. "I keep telling him to make a move but he says he'll do it when it feels right."

Thea smiled.

"That sounds like Diggle alright," she answered.

"What sounds like Digg," a voice interjected.

Both Thea and Felicity jumped at the sound. They turned, watching Oliver stroll over to them slowly and sit down next to Felicity. When they had recovered, Thea replied to his question.

"Diggle still hasn't made a move on Lyla even though Felicity keeps telling him to do so," Thea said, reaching over Felicity's lap and patting Oliver's knee. "Hi, by the way."

"Hi," Felicity agreed.

Oliver smiled at both of them.

"Hello- not cold yet," he asked. When both shook their heads, he nodded and turned to the matter at hand. "Don't worry about Diggle too much. If he says he will, he will."

He sent Felicity a reprimanding look.

"I know, I know, I should mind my own business," Felicity acknowledged. "But let's be honest, I'm an IT-nerd and my friend group is limited to the people here tonight plus Norah. I think that is enough justification for me to be obsessed with someone else's life."

Thea snorted and Oliver chuckled.

"I'm sure Diggle disagrees," Thea said with a grin. "But that man needs some looking after, so I forgive you."

At those words, a vivid memory of how Diggle looked after he had had a flashback to his time in the army, while behind the counter, disturbed Felicity's thoughts and she nodded. Digg needed people to keep track of him, to make sure he was still on the right path. Silently, Felicity watched Oliver's knee, remembering how John had shivered when he had come back from his flashback.

"Right," Thea said. "I'm getting more alcohol. You guys want some?"

"Red wine, please," Felicity chirped, mood already significantly better at the promise of alcohol.

Oliver shook his head.

"No, thank you."

Thea promised to be back with the wine after she had said hi to Roy, but Felicity didn't believe a word of it. It was all the same to her, though. After Thea had left, she peered up at Oliver with curious blue eyes to find him watching the steady stream of people walking by. She watched him stare at them, wondering what could or would worry him, at this point. Roy and Thea? His mother? Taking over the business? Isabel? Her?

As the many thoughts came and went like the tide, she watched the shadows play chase on his face due to the many people walking past headlights. They only highlighted his handsome features and Felicity thought it wasn't fair that he was that handsome. When his leg moved, she watched it. Oliver was sitting with his legs opened a bit and his hands dangling between them. She glanced at them and instantly felt bereft of her breath as she remembered the rough texture of his skin against her skin. The warm feeling she had felt creep up on her inside, when he had held her hand, made itself known again. When she looked up at his face again, Oliver was just glancing at her and a broad smile spilled onto her face instantly.

"Hi," she said again, softer this time.

He smiled back.

"Hi," he answered.

They stared at each other for some time. Felicity's nerves started to act up as she gazed into his blue eyes. All the while, she couldn't help but wonder how it would feel to pull on his shirt until their lips crashed together.

In an attempt to calm her rabid thoughts, Felicity looked away. Oliver bumped his shoulder against hers softly when she did so. Reluctantly, Felicity glimpsed back and caught Oliver looking at her interestedly. So much for calming herself down, then.

"Are you feeling better yet," Oliver asked.

He scanned her face as she looked at her hands to form a reply.

"Yes, thank you. It was nice to have someone look out for me and change the subject."

His knee touched hers accidentally and she felt a spark shoot up her leg, her body remembering the last time they had been alone without fail. She looked at the material of his trousers pulling taut over his knees when he opened his mouth again to speak.

"Was your mother really that bad?"

Felicity turned to him immediately. In his eyes she could see genuine worry, interest and a faint sparkle of hope that it wasn't true. Doubt coursing through her, she looked at the stone steps beneath them. Did she really want to discuss this now?

It was silent while Felicity took her time to order her thoughts. Oliver observed her as she did so. Then, Felicity broke the silence.

"My mother wasn't necessarily… bad," she started. When Oliver did not speak in the few seconds that followed, she nervously picked up the story again. "But she doesn't feel like a mother, either. She was an alcoholic when I was in high school so I fled the house. I stayed at Norah's place and _her_ mom… feels much more like a mother. Now, however, my mother has stopped drinking and wants to be my mom again but she's kind of overcompensating with extremely inquisitive phone calls and too many invitations."

There it was. That was the most she'd ever told anyone about the situation next to Diggle. When she looked up to see how Oliver was taking it, he was looking at the barely visible street lights behind the crowd.

"Is she on her own, now, back home? Or did she move in with family?"

Surprised, Felicity leaned back a bit. Usually, it would have been an I'm-sorry-for-you or a judgmental reaction directed at her mother. Nobody she had ever told about it, even in her hometown, had asked first about her mom's well-being, now. Oliver looked concerned, though, and she could see he was being genuine.

In reply, she shook her head.

"No, Donna got married to a John with twins called Anna and Luke. The situation is much better now, really. John really tries and I like the twins."

Oliver nodded.

"Good. And she stopped drinking?"

A shrug.

"Yes, completely."

Oliver nodded again and searched her face, then looked at a couple walking by. Felicity watched him, wondering what he was thinking but never really getting close. With a long sigh, she looked forward as well.

Without turning towards her, Oliver spoke again.

"But you still drink alcohol, right?"

Felicity peered up at him to see if that was judgment she was hearing, but when he didn't move, she nodded and turned back.

"Yeah," she replied.

She worried about how easily she entrusted these facts to Oliver and how comfortable she felt discussing them. It was strange how fast Oliver got her to bring down her walls.

"Why?"

She pondered the question in silence. As she glimpsed up, she wondered if it was so easy to bring down her walls because he was so understanding and gave her all the time in the world to answer.

"I think it's because I know I will never let myself go that far because I have seen what it amounts to. I trust myself with it."

Oliver nodded.

"It makes sense," he agreed.

They were silent for a while. Felicity felt vulnerable and raw, like she had just cut open old wounds without a care in the world, but Oliver's shoulder bumping into hers helped her realize she had not. She had just told him all there was to know.  
When Oliver patted her knee for a second to calm her down, she decided that it had been the right thing to do. He could be trusted with this information, she realized. He cared about her stories, he cared about how she felt after telling them and he wanted to keep her happy.

Not that Felicity wasn't happy. In fact, she was so content with his attention that the place he had touched on her knee was growing hot to a degree where she wondered if it was slowly turning into lava and she had to put her right hand on the cold ground beside her to make sure she would not overheat.

On the pavement, a group of teenagers passed that whistled at them for being outside alone. Felicity rolled her eyes at their behaviour.

After the group had left, the wind picked up and Felicity started rubbing her arms. To share his warmth, Oliver moved closer to her, sitting shoulder to shoulder, knee to knee. The feeling of his tough muscled skin pressing against Felicity's soft skin kept distracting her as she watched the night sky. It made her temperature rise gradually, although there was nothing extraordinary going on.

With blushes as a result of the warmth she was harboring inside, Felicity wondered how she could find out if she was a kiss and ride for Oliver or not. Before she could come to a conclusion, though, Oliver spoke.

"So," he drew out. "What did you and Thea discuss."

"Mostly you," Felicity answered truthfully.

Oliver looked at her with raised eyebrows.

"All good things, I hope?"

She wriggled hers in a teasing manner.

"Maybe," she teased. When Oliver kept looking at her, she withered under his intense gaze. "She was worried about you in the staff group and she wants you to settle down."

Oliver chuckled.

"I see Thea is not reserved about her opinion around you."

She shook her head with a proud smile.

"Nope, not since our joint candy crush addiction."

Oliver grinned and she grinned back. Her body tingled as she tried to look at his lips subtly.

"I think I'm fitting in fine, don't you?"

Felicity hadn't stopped looking at him and couldn't stop an endeared smile from showing. When he looked back at her, she answered.

"Well," she said. "You're not putting the fear of God into us, like we thought you would, so that's a good thing."

Oliver chuckled.

"I guess so."

Felicity nodded. Absent-minded, she touched her curled hair, missing the feeling of her ponytail bobbing up and down as she nodded.

"And you're talking and acting interested so you're good."

Oliver followed her hand with his eyes and nodded distractedly. When Felicity let go of her hair, he focused on the conversation again.

"What did she say about settling?"

Felicity raised her eyebrows at the words. He wanted to discuss his slutty ways with her? Not good. Or was it?

_God_. With those piercing blue eyes on her she couldn't even _think_ a single solid thought through.

Because she was bad at lying under pressure, Felicity told him the truth.

"She hoped you'd stopped sleeping around and were ready for the real stuff to start," she explained.

Oliver stared at her yet grinned at the honest words. She met his gaze, unimpressed, but had not anticipated the depth of his eyes once again and got lost in the ocean of emotions swirling behind them.

"What did you say," Oliver wondered aloud, scanning her eyes, nose and lips. She wetted the latter unconsciously.

Felicity tried really hard to form a coherent reply while Oliver leaned in, but his closeness was making her head swim. She opened her mouth and closed it.  
He moved in even more and only a few inches separated them. His breath fanned over her face and the feeling reminded her of the last time they sat like this and the aftermath of it.

The situation caused alarm bells to go off in her head but she could not remember why due to the sparkling blue eyes in front of her. She moved her head back a bit to remember and to answer his question even though Oliver frowned at the action. Suddenly, she recalled what it was, what she had been wanting to say to him.

"I told her you would have to explain where the hell you were the last two days, first," she answered.

Oliver sat back, astonished by the answer.

"The last two days?"

So she _was_ a kiss and ride, then. She rolled her eyes.

_Nice to finally know._

"First you kiss me, then you don't show for two days," she reminded him.

Oliver frowned, realization setting in.

"Thea… was supposed to tell you where I was," he said, confused.

Felicity frowned and looked at her hands, embarrassed by her own possessiveness now. She was silent for a while.

"Well, she didn't," she answered stubbornly in the end.

Oliver grinned.

"Well, if you must know- I was getting my diploma and having a drink with Isabel," he teased.

Felicity threw back her head.

"Don't remind me," she groaned, leaning back more in mock-anger.

When she glanced at him, his blue eyes had started sparkling again. As she watched him watch her, she wondered if he felt that intoxicating yet lovely nervous feeling she felt, now that he was close. She scanned his face and wetted her lips slowly.

Oliver leaned in to whisper in her ear.

"Why, are you jealous?"

He was chuckling and the deep sound of it made Felicity's temperature spike. She bit her lip in response. His breath was hitting her face again and his smell was invading her senses. She felt like she was slowly drowning in the man in front of her, while he was innocently grinning at her.

She opened her mouth to reply, but instead started babbling in nervousness.

"Maybe- well, I mean, she does have millions in the back and I don't. Being an ICT-genius doesn't pay well, I'll have you know. It is a severely underrated occupation. Although, if I got a dollar for every suspicious look I get from our supervisor I might be rich. I guess he has a right to be suspicious, I do often play Candy Crush-"

Oliver leaned back again.

"Felicity."

"-during work hours but let's be honest, I finish any job in an hour so I'm allowed to take breaks. I mean, Ronald, on the other hand, should not even be allowed toilet breaks because he only wrecks my systems and-"

"Felicity," Oliver demanded in an urgent tone.

She snapped her mouth shut and peered at him worriedly. Nerves swirled around in her stomach and she closed her eyes for a second, trying to calm them. Something bumped against her forehead as she did so. She opened her eyes immediately.

In front of her, only a few inches away, were Oliver Queen's eyes, shining brightly. Had she mentioned how pretty they were? Because _man_, they could win contests.

Oliver was pressing their foreheads together and smiling at the way her breath hitched when she had opened her eyes.

"Trust someone who knows, Isabel's got nothing on you," Oliver said.

At first, Felicity just stared at him. Then, she let go of a breath she didn't know she had been holding.

"Oh," she answered.

Grinning, Oliver circled his left arm around her waist and then put his right hand on her shoulder to gently toy with her hair. Felicity purred at the gentle tugging and put both hands on his chest in response, grabbing his shirt to have something to hold onto. When Oliver leaned in the last two inches to kiss her, though, she splayed out her fingers and stopped him.

There was one more thing she needed to get sorted.

"Wait," she urged him. "I just- I want you to know I'm not like those other girls."

A blank look for the longest time and then, Oliver nodded.

"I know."

When he moved in again, she repeated the action. It was hard, what with his proximity and the whisper of his skin against hers whenever he toyed with her hair. But she had to do it.

"No, really," she said, remembering her mother's one-night stands. "I want more. A date, flowers, the whole deal."

Oliver sent her a small endeared smile and brushed his thumb against her neck slowly, which sent shivers down her spine.

"I know, Felicity," he whispered. "You will."

Satisfied, Felicity smiled at him and kissed his cheek. She stopped pushing against his chest and when she leaned back up to look him in the eyes, he captured her lips with his. Their lips melted together and she felt like she had been swept off her feet.

Felicity grabbed onto his shoulders as she spiraled down into a bliss she'd never known before. She couldn't stop a delighted sound from escaping at the realization of what was happening. Her whole body felt on fire, like every place that touched Oliver had been ignited upon contact and was sending her whole body into overload. When Oliver pulled her against him some more, she squirmed in delight. She pushed into the kiss and Oliver pressed back, both of them eager to show the other how much they had longed for this.

Oliver's hand started making circles on her lower back and she purred into the kiss, relishing in the feel. As Oliver slipped his hand under her shirt and continued, wanting to hear more of her delicious moans as the feel of skin on skin contact drove both of them crazy. When Felicity moaned softly, Oliver grinned and moved in to gently bite her lip. Wanting to reciprocate, Felicity slipped a hand over his chest to his back and up to his head, gently pulling the hairs she found there. Her other hand moved around to his back, discovering the vast expanse of it through massage. Oliver groaned and moved a hand to the side of her ribcage to move up and down torturously slow, sending slow pulses of need through Felicity time and time again.

When he scratched her back with a nail on accident, she gasped and Oliver took the opportunity to slip his tongue into her mouth. He mapped her mouth with searing hot precision and she returned the favor in kind. Felicity tasted faintly like the food she'd eaten but the dominant flavor had to be the red wine she had been drinking all evening. Oliver, on the other hand, tasted a bit like the whiskey he had been drinking and Felicity happily got drunk on his taste while their tongues battled for dominance.

Suddenly, overtaken by the need to touch and be in contact, Oliver moved one arm under her legs and one behind her back and he swiftly moved her to sit on his lap sideways. Felicity broke the kiss to look around for a second, then smiled down at Oliver.

His arms circled her waist again and pulled her as close as possible, their bodies touching wherever they could. She moved her arms over his shoulders, letting them dangle there as they looked at one another. When Oliver looked at her, Felicity grinned back at him.

Slowly, painfully slow, Oliver leaned in again and kissed her, their tongues dancing together. Felicity moaned in delight. She bit his lip playfully, which he returned in kind and then let go of her with one arm to let his hand move to the outside of her thigh. He started rubbing the area teasingly. When she swatted away his hand because it was too much, catcalls could be heard from a group of boys passing by. They paid them no mind, however, in a world of their own.

When Oliver's hand had been swatted away he placed both hands on her sides and started running them up and down there, causing Felicity to squirm in pleasure. He let go of her mouth and placed butterfly kisses all along her jaw, ending just below her ear. He kissed her there, making her moan into his ear silently as she didn't want the whole restaurant to look up. When he bit her earlobe, she gasped and he chuckled cheerfully. She could feel his chest reverberate as he did so and kissed his neck as well.

After a groan of delight, Oliver bit her earlobe again and then moved back to her lips and claimed them once again. Felicity couldn't believe she was actually kissing him and pinched her own hand while she did so. The very real jab of pain travelling up her arm made her realize this was not a dream and she smiled against his lips happily. Oliver slowed the intensity of the kiss and moved away from her. He gave her a questioning look.

"What?"

Felicity grinned.

"Nothing," she said, pecking him on the lips. "Just thinking you've more than made up for your absence."

Oliver grinned and looked at her lips, red from all the kissing.

"Good," he answered cockily.

Felicity punched his chest softly.

"I still want a date, though," she said, sending him a mock-glare.

Oliver laughed.

"Well, when are you free," he asked.

Felicity pushed her forehead against his shoulder with a smile.

"Sunday."

"So, pick you up Sunday at seven?"

Felicity smiled.

"I'll be there," she assured him.

Oliver made a content sound and moved his head to the side to peck her cheek. Felicity moved up instead and pressed her lips against his, silently thanking him for the date. When she let go, she got up and sat down next to him again, adjusting her clothing and fanning her face.

Next to her, the man to be held accountable for her high temperature was chuckling. She smiled knowingly and looked back at the entrance of the restaurant.

"We should go in soon," Felicity said, her feeling of dread apparent in her voice. "Dessert is probably almost there."

Oliver nodded as she leaned her head against his shoulder. They sat like that for a while.

"Well, we can always continue this on Sunday," he offered cheekily.

Felicity flushed and slapped his knee, but smiled either way.

"I'll have you know I don't put out on the first date," she said, though she highly doubted the validity of that rule in combination with Oliver Queen.

Oliver just smiled in response.

"I kind of thought so."

She moved away and squinted her eyes at the man.

"That better be a tone of admiration," she threatened.

Oliver grinned.

"I wouldn't have you any other way."

Felicity gave a satisfied nod. Oliver winked at her and stood up, holding out his hand to the blonde.

"Ready," he asked. Felicity nodded, got up with his help and smiled as they walked in together. "Time to get food."

"God, I hope you say that after every kiss," Felicity whispered dreamily, swinging their hands back and forth as they walked.

Oliver tilted his head at her response and one corner of his mouth moved up.

"Careful," he reminded her. "I learned to eat bugs in China, remember?"

Instantly, Felicity moved away from him, dropped his hand and made a sound that sounded suspiciously much like 'Yuk'. Before Oliver could reassure her, though, the table came into view and Thea waved at them, pointing at the desserts that had been served.

"Hey, I was just coming to get you guys," she said happily.

Both of them smiled and Diggle looked from Felicity to Oliver, then sent Felicity a knowing look. She hit him as she passed by.

"You shut up," she hissed.

Diggle just grinned even more when Oliver's hand grabbed Felicity's under the table and her eyes widened minutely.

"I wouldn't dare," Diggle replied.

But the rest of the night, neither Diggle nor Oliver stopped grinning and it irritated Felicity to no end. Although she couldn't quite stop smiling herself, either.

* * *

#

* * *

**A/N: Ugh, I don't know why but I feel I've lost the playful essence of this story. Maybe that is because Felicity had to be a bit introspective, this chapter. Will try to get the playful elements back in the next chapter.**

**ALSO THANK YOU FOR READING THROUGH THIS IMMENSE AMOUNT OF WORDS.**

**I would have cut it into two pieces but I didn't know where to begin and I liked all scenes and didn't want to leave even more out.**

**Yes. So. What did you think?**

**One more chapter to go =)**


End file.
